The Bad Twin
by Sanura Bey
Summary: Chloe had everything she could have ever wanted, but she hated being in her twins shadow. After her parents died she was determined to put Elena in her rightful place, but that all changes with the arrival of Damon and Stefan Salvatore.
1. Chloe

Strange things have been happening in this town for a long time. Strange animal attacks with no one finding the animal. Strange murders with people missing all of their blood. My name is Chloe Gilbert. And this is the truth behind the lies.

* * *

"An hour's drive to hear that crap. You know, it wasn't even a band. A guy with a guitar. An hour each way." A man said to his girlfriend as they drove back to Mystic Falls.

"He wasn't that bad." his girlfriend told him.

"He sounded like James Blunt." the boyfriend pointed out.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked him.

"We already have a James Blunt. One's all we need." he told her.

"So why did you come?" she asked him with a smile.

"Because I love you." he told her and her smile grew.

"Nicely done. What's with all the fog?" she asked looking around at the mysterious fog that had just appeared.

"It'll clear in a second." he told her. Suddenly the silhouette of a man could be seen.

"Watch out!" she yelled right before they ran him over.

"Are you ok?" her boyfriend asked her.

"We just hit someone! Oh my god!" she said freaking out.

"Call for help." her boyfriend told her as he got out of the car.

"Come on, come on!" she begged her phone as her boyfriend made his way to the body.

"Please be alive! Oh, my god." the boyfriend begged the man. The man woke up and bit him in the neck, drinking before disappearing with the now dead body.

"There's no signal!" the girl cried out getting out of the car and looking where her boyfriend had been. "Darren! Darren?" she ran to where he had been but couldn't find him. she was suddenly drug up into the sky, kicking and screaming.

* * *

I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her.

A man watched a young brunette woman get ready for her first day of a new school year. He watched as she moved with the grace of a dancer, but being a cheerleader will do that he guessed. He found his new plaything.

* * *

Elena Gilbert sat on her window seat writing in her journal as she had done every morning since her mom gave her first journal to her.

_Dear diary, today will be different. It has to be. I will smile, and it will be believable. My smile will say "I'm fine, thank you." "Yes, I feel much better." I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new. It's the only way I'll make it through._

* * *

I sat in front of my mirror putting on my make up on the first day of a new school year. My family and I suffered a great lose last year. My parents died in a car accident that both my sister and I were in as well. We were saved somehow, but the experience changed us and our younger brother, Jeremy. I suppose it would change anyone. Jeremy turned to drugs and liquor that I always tried to break him of. I think he was getting tired of me. My sister wrote in her diary more often than usual. She hid inside a shell of her former self. What did I do? I was the biggest bitch in the world. I made sure everyone knew who was in charge. I had always been manipulative, dating who I needed to get me what I wanted then dropping them like an old hat, but after my parents died it grew. It was like they were a lock on all I could do with my personality and when they died, it broke. There were subtle differences between Elena and myself, other than personality. Hair was one. My curled and waved while she kept her's straight. Clothes were another. I showed off my curves while she wore looser clothing. No, I didn't show off a lot of skin. My clothes were classy, not trashy. The last was our eyes. Mine were an Ice Blue holding mischief and schemes while hers were brown. I looked at myself in my full length mirror and made sure everything was perfect. I wore a purple tight v neck shirt, black skinny jeans, with black ankle heeled boots and a black leather jacket. So my parents spoiled me when it came to my wardrobe, who's complaining. When I was done getting ready I grabbed a black purse and made my way down stairs as everyone was frantically getting ready for school. My mother's younger sister, Jenna, was now our sole guardian and had moved back to Mystic Falls to take care of us.

"Toast. I can make toast." Jenna said to us.

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna." Elena told her as she poured coffee into a cup for herself. She put it down and I grabbed it from her.

"Thank you, my dear sister." I said.

"Chloe!" Elena said as if she was shocked I would do that. I did it every morning, you would think she would learn by now.

"Yes, Elena?" I asked giving her an innocent look. She looked at me with her mouth open wide before sighing and getting another cup for herself. No, my sister and I didn't really get along. We had never really been close and while I shared death experience gave us something in common, it only drove us apart. We tolerated each other because we had the same friends. Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes.

"Is there coffee?" Jeremy asked before stealing Elena's second cup. She grabbed another cup and poured herself some more, protecting this one from Aunt Jenna like it was made of gold.

"Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared. Lunch money?" Jenna asked holding out money.

"I'm good." Elena told her but Jer grabbed the money and I gave him a pouty look and he sighed before giving it to me. I always got what I wanted from guys.

"Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?" Jenna asked us and I looked at the clock.

"Don't you have a big presentation today?" I asked her.

"I'm meeting with my thesis adviser at..." Jenna looked at the clock. "now. Crap!"

"Then go. We'll be fine." Elena said and Jenna ran out the door with her school things.

"You high?" I asked Jer trying to look in his eyes.

"Don't start." he told me walking out the door after Jenna. I looked at the TV to see a report on two missing people. Brooke and Darren.

* * *

Elena and I rode in Bonnie's car to school. I needed one of my own. Maybe I could get Ty to get his parents to give me one. He and I had been dating until he hooked up with Vicki Donovan behind my back. He was tired of me not always wanting sex. Boo freaking hoo. I dropped him and moved on, but rumor is he still had the hots for me. That could come in handy if it was true.

"So Grams is telling me I'm psychic." Bonnie told us. "Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already! But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands. . .Elena! Back in the car."

"I did it again, didn't I? I-I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me that. . ." Elena said, pretending like she had been listening.

"That she's psychic now." I told her.

"Right. Ok, then predict something. About us." Elena said, motioning to both her and me.

"I see. . ." Bonnie was interrupted when a crow hit the car making us swerve and scream a little. "What was that?! Oh, my god! Elena, Chloe, are you OK?" she asked us.

"It's OK. I'm fine. You?" Elena asked me.

"I'm good." I told them before looking out the window for the crow.

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere." Bonnie told us.

"Really, we can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of our lives." Elena told her.

"Yeah, Bon. Cars are kinda a world wide thing and being scared of them would be kinda stupid." I told her. I hadn't been freaked out by cars after the accident, only Elena had and she never understood that.

"I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you two are going to be beyond happy." she told us before driving off. I looked behind us and saw the crow on top of a sign.

* * *

We drove up to the school and I noticed a new face, a new hot face, walking inside. I walked with Bonnie and Elena to our lockers, checking out the guys as we went.

"Major lack of male real estate." Bonnie said, and I had to agree. Although that new guy is new to the markets. He'd do. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot — can I still say "tranny mess"?"

"No, that's over." I told her as she opened her locker.

"Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase." she said.

"It's a busy year." I told her and we laughed. I turned and saw Elena staring at Matt Donovan, our friend and her ex boyfriend. She waved at him but he ignored her.

"He hates me." Elena said to us with a sigh at the end.

"That's not hate. That's "you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits."" Bonnie told her with a smile. I smiled as Caroline approached us and gave Elena and I each a hug.

"Chloe. Elena. Oh, my god." she said. "How are you guys? Oh, it's so good to see you two. How are they? Are they good?" she asked Bonnie.

"Caroline, we're right here. And we're fine. Thank you." Elena said making me have to contain my anger.

"Really?" Care asked looking at me. She knew me well.

"Yes, Care. We're alright." I told her with a tight smile.

"Oh, you poor things." she told us hugging us again.

"Ok, Caroline." I said getting annoyed.

"Oh!" Care said backing away from us. "Ok, see you guys later?" she said walking away to get the latest gossip for herself and me. Even if I wasn't her friend, I'd have her around for a good sniffer dog.

"Ok! Bye!" Bonnie called after her.

"No comment." Elena said laughing.

"I'm not going to say anything." I said as we walked away from Bonnie's locker.

* * *

"Don't take more than two in a six-hour window." Jeremy told his crush, Vicki Donovan, as he gave her pills. She took them all and they shared a brief look.

"Hey, Vicki. I knew I'd find you here with the crackheads." Tyler Lockwood, Vicki's boyfriend said walking up to her and Jeremy.

"Hey." Vicki said giving him a hug but looking at Jeremy.

"Hey, Pete Wentz called. He wants his nail polish back." Tyler said taking the joint from Jeremy.

"Pete Wentz, huh? How old school T.R.L. of you. Carson Daley fan?" Jeremy asked him sarcastically. Tyler got mad and went to hit him but Vicki held him back.

"Oh, Ty, be nice. That's Elena and Chloe's little brother." Vicki reminded him.

"I know who he is. I'll still kick his ass." Tyler told her before kissing her. He had seen Jeremy plenty of times when he used to date Chloe.

* * *

"Hold up. Who's this?" Bonnie asked, stopping outside of the office. We looked inside and saw the new student I'd seen earlier.

"All I see is back." Elena said.

"It's a hot back." Bonnie said.

"Front's not bad either." I told them.

"When did you see him?" Bonnie asked me.

"When we arrived." I told her.

"Your records are incomplete." I heard the secretary say. "You're missing immunization records, and we do insist on transcripts."

"Please look again." The new student said to the Secretary, taking off his sun glasses. "I'm sure everything you need is there." she stared at him for a moment before looking down at the paperwork.

"Well, you're right. So it is." she told him with a smile.

"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar." Bonnie said making us laugh.

"You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?" Elena asked her.

"Pretty much." Bonnie said smiling.

"Jeremy, good batch, man." I turned and watched my brother go into the bathroom.

"We'll be right back. Elena come with me." I told her walking towards where Jeremy had gone with my twin at my back.

"What are you going to do now?" Elena asked me.

"Please be hot." Bonnie said staring at the new student's hot back. I walked into the bathroom with Elena behind me making the boy coming out of the stall freak out.

"Whoa! Pants down, chick!" he said.

"Leave, now." I ordered and he quickly left. I walked to my brother and grabbed his face, looking into his eyes.

"Great. It's the first day of school and you're stoned." I said.

"No, I'm not." he lied to me and I gave him a look making sure he knew I didn't believe him.

"When did you start doing drugs?" Elena asked him and I rolled my eyes.

"Where is it? Is it on you?" I asked him going through his pockets.

"Stop, all right?! You need to chill yourself, all right?" he asked me and I gave him another look.

"Chill myself? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool." I said sarcastically as I continued trying to search him.

"Chloe, just leave him alone!" Elena said pulling me from him.

"No Elena! I will not have him going down this road and end up killing himself." I told her.

"Look, stop fighting!" Jeremy told us. "I don't have anything on me. Are you crazy?"

"You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy!" I almost yelled at him. "I'm not watching you destroy yourself. No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead. Keep it up. But just know that I am going to be there to ruin your buzz each and every time just as I have all summer, you got it?" I asked him and he looked away from me. I heard one of the toilets flush and looked to see a boy walking out.

"Leave. Now!" I almost yelled at him and he ran out of the bathroom.

"Jeremy, we know who you are. And it's not this person. So don't be this person." Elena begged him and I rolled my eyes at her. Why was I always the bad twin and her the good?

"I don't need this." Jeremy said pushing past us and out of the bathroom.

* * *

Bonnie was still outside the school office watching the new student.

"Thank you." he said to the secretary.

"You're welcome." she said as he turned and left. As he walked down the hallway he caught the eyes of Caroline, who now knew she had to find out everything about him.

* * *

"You need to start paying more attention to the people around you, Elena." I told her and her mouth fell open shocked by my words.

"What does that mean?" she asked me angrily.

"Meaning wake up. We don't have much family left and if you don't help me with Jeremy, we might just lose him forever." I told her. She opened her mouth to say something but left the bathroom instead. I sighed and followed her out, bumping into the new guy.

"Uh, pardon me. Um. . .is this the men's room?" he asked looking from the door to us.

"Yes. Um, I was just, Um—I was just—It's a long story. . . ." she told him, laughing lightly. She went to pass him but as he tried to move for her to pass they moved together in the same direction. They laughed lightly before he moved to allow her past. "Thank you." He watched her as she walked away, turning to look at him before turning a corner.

* * *

"Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union." Mr. Tanner told us in our first history class of the year as we all took notes. I turned to look behind me to see Elena and the new student exchanging looks. I watched Bonnie smile and take out her phone and send a text to someone. I watched as Elena look down at her phone before smiling and looking back to the front. I looked back at my notes and sighed. I was so annoyed with her flirting.

* * *

After school Elena walked to the cemetery to write in her journal close to her parents grave like she had been since they were buried.

_Dear diary, I made it through the day. I must have said, "I'm fine, thanks," at least thirty-seven times. And I didn't mean it once. But no one noticed. When someone asks, "How are you?" They really don't want an answer._

As she wrote a crow suddenly appeared on her parents grave stone, making her jump. She stared at it for a moment before going back to her writing. The crow cawed at her and she sighed, looking up at it.

"Ok. Hi, bird." She said. The crow just stared at her. "That's not creepy or anything." She said, turning back to her writing. Suddenly she saw fog rolling in quickly. She put her journal down and stood up staring down at her feet for a moment before looking back up at the bird. "Shoo!" She yelled waving her hand at the bird, making it fly away. "That's what I thought." She turned back to her spot on the ground and jumped seeing the crow again. She slowly reached down and grabbed her bag, forgetting her journal, and started to walk out of the cemetery as the fog thickened. She turned and saw a man standing behind a tomb. She stared at him until he disappeared and she started to run the other way. Elena tripped and fell, rolling on the ground slightly. She got up and turned to see the new student, Stefan she learned from one of her classes, behind her.

"You ok?" he asked her.

"Were you following me?" She asked him, pointing behind her.

"No, I-a, uh, I-a just — I saw you fall." He told her.

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery." She said, suspicion heavy in her voice.

"I'm visiting. I have family here." He told her and a look of realization came to her face.

"Oh. Wow. Tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog, It's making me foggy. And then back there, there was this - this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock? . . ." she asked before laughing, realizing she was rambling. "I'm Elena."

"I'm Stefan." He introduced.

"I know. We have History together." She said with a smile.

"And English and French." He reminded her.

"Right." She said before he pulled a leaf out of her hair. "Thanks. . . Nice ring."

"Oh. Um, It's a family ring, yeah. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, huh?" he asked her.

"No, no. It's just, I mean, there are rings and then there's that." She said looking at it. Silence fell between them for a moment before he made a confused face.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he suddenly asked her.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he repeated.

"Oh, uh, I don't know." She said. Elena put her leg on a ledge and pulled up her pant leg and they saw a cut gushing blood. "Oh! Would you look at that. That is not pretty." She said. Stefan turned his face away from her as his eyes began to turn red and black veins were pulsing under his eyes. "Are you ok?" she asked when she noticed he was looking away from her.

"You should go. Take care of that." Stefan told her and she turned back to her leg, pulling her pant leg down.

"Really, it's nothing." She said turning back to him to see him gone.

* * *

I walked through the woods alone after school had ended. This was the only place I could really be alone with my thoughts. At home I had Jeremy, Elena and Aunt Jenna all hovering and talking about their own problems. If I went to the cemetery people would think I hadn't moved on from my parents death. That really didn't leave me many choices. As I walked I didn't notice the fog rolling in around me until it was at my knees and covering the forest floor like a blanket. I turned to go back gasping in surprise and shock at a man standing behind me.

"God! What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked him, putting my hand on my chest and taking deep breaths.

"Sorry. I saw you walking alone. This is a dangerous area you know." He told me. I laughed sharply before looking up at him for the first time. He had black hair and the bluest eyes I had ever seen.

"Haven't you heard? Nowhere is safe anymore." I said smirking up at him. He smirked down at me and nodded once.

"Touche. So what are you doing out here?" he asked me.

"Why? Are you going to stalk me until I tell you?" I asked him, flirting a little.

"And if I do? What are you going to do about it?" he asked me and I flashed him a smile.

"Who says I'll do anything?" I asked him.

"Most would." He said.

"I'm not most." I said, walking by him. As I walked past him I rubbed my hand against his and he grabbed mine, turning me back to him.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were flirting with me." He said.

"It's a good thing you know better then." I told him. "What's your name?" I asked him.

"Damon." He introduced. "And yours?"

"Now why would I tell you that?" I asked him.

""It's polite." He told me.

"Who says I'm polite?" I asked him, pulling my hand from his. "Goodbye Damon. I'll see you around." I said walking away from him.

"Give me a name." he called back to me and I smirked before turning back to him.

"Chloe."

* * *

Stefan was sitting in his room at the Salvatore Boarding House writing in his journal, Elena's green one sitting next to him.

**I lost control today. Everything I've kept buried inside came rushing to the surface. I'm simply not able to resist her.**

* * *

Jeremy walked over to Vicki in the Grill during her shift, hoping to talk to her.

"Hey Vick." He said with a smile.

"Working." She told him walking to her brother and boyfriends table with her brother's food.

"Thanks, Vick." Matt said but she turned her back on him and faced Tyler.

"Do you need another refill?" she asked him.

"I'd love one." He told her. She smiled and left the table with his cup.

"Please tell me you're not hooking up with my sister." Matt asked his friend.

"I'm not hooking up with your sister." Tyler lied to him, but Matt could see right through him.

"You're such a dick." Matt told him. Meanwhile, with Jeremy finally caught up with Vicki as she got Tyler his drink.

"Hey, what's your deal? I mean, summer you act one way and then school starts and you can't be bothered." He said to her.

"Look, Jeremy, I really appreciate all the pharmaceuticals, but you can't keep following me around like a lost puppy." Vicki told him.

"When's the last time you had sex with a puppy?" he asked her.

"Hey, keep it down." She said before looking around to make sure no one had heard him. "I don't want to tell the whole world I deflowered Elena and Chloe's kid brother."

"Yeah, and deflowered and deflowered." He reminded her.

"We hooked up a few times in a drug haze. It's over. You gotta back off before you ruin things between me and Tyler." She told him.

"Oh, come on, the guy's a total douche. He only wants you for your ass." Jeremy told her.

"Yeah? What do you want me for?" Vicki asked walking away him. In another part of the Grill Caroline, Bonnie and I walked in, talking about the mysterious new student.

"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue." Caroline informed us.

"You got all of that in one day?" Bonnie asked her.

"Oh, please, I got all that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." Caroline said.

"I'd go for a winter wedding. White and blue would be perfect." I said smiling at her.

"You're right." Care agreed as she went to the bar to order a drink.

* * *

"I'm meeting Bonnie at the grill." Elena said at the Gilbert House walking past Aunt Jenna.

"Ok, have fun. Wait, I got this. Don't stay out late, it's a school night." Jenna told Elena, making the teen smile.

"Well done, Aunt Jenna." Elena said opening the door to see Stefan. "Oh."

"Sorry, I was about to knock. I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was . . . strange." Stefan said to her.

"No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish." Elena said, remembering his reaction to her leg.

"Um, something like that. How's your leg?" he asked her.

"Oh, it's fine. Just a scratch, barely. How did you know where I lived?" she asked him.

"It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back." He told her, handing her the green journal she'd left in the cemetery.

"Oh, I must have dropped it. I-thank you." She said, holding her treasured book.

"Don't worry, I didn't . . . read it." He assured her.

"No? Why not? Most people would have." She said.

"Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine." He said and she looked at him shocked.

"You keep a journal?" she asked him.

"Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important." He told her, stunning her.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna. . .umm, you don't have to stay out there." She said backing away from the doorway to grab her jacket and put her journal away temporarily. He tried to walk in, looking at the doorway as he did.

"I'm fine." He called to her. "Sorry, were you going somewhere?" he asked her once she walked back to the doorway.

"Yeah, I'm meeting a friend. Do you want to come?" she asked him.

* * *

"How's Elena doing?" Matt asked me and Bonnie at the Grill.

"Our mom and dad died. How do you think? She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months." I reminded him.

"Has she said anything about me?" he asked me.

"Oh, no. So not getting in the middle." Bonnie told me.

"Why don't you pick up the phone and call her?" I asked him.

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me." He told me and I shook my head at him.

"Give it more time, Matt." Bonnie said comforting him. I looked at the entryway to see Elena walking in with Stefan.

"Or not." I whispered.

"More time, huh?" Matt asked before walking over to them.

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you." He introduced himself.

"Hi. Stefan." Stefan introduced.

"Hey." Elena greeted.

"Hey." He said walking away from them.

* * *

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked Stefan as we all sat around a table.

"Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young." Stefan told her.

"Parents?" Bonnie asked.

"My parents passed away." He told us and a silence past through us. I looked to see Care looking at me and Bonnie looking at Elena.

"I'm sorry." Elena said to him.

"Any siblings?" I asked him.

"None that I talk to." He told me. Not a definite no. "I live with my uncle."

"So, Stefan," Care asked, pulling the attention back to her. "If you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie told him.

"Are you going?" Stefan asked looking at Elena.

"Of course she is." Bonnie said, smiling at Elena. Elena gave her a look before smiling at him.

* * *

Later that night, Stefan was writing in his journal again when Zach walked into his room.

"You promised." Zach said angrily showing Stefan a newspaper article of Brooke and Darren being found dead.

"This was an animal attack." Stefan said handing the paper back to him.

"Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough, they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control." Zack said to him.

"And I do." Stefan told him.

"Please, Uncle Stefan." Zack begged him. "Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you being here, it's just going to stir things up."

"It's not my intention." Stefan told him.

"Then what is? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?" Zack asked him.

"I don't have to explain myself." Stefan told him firmly.

"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore." Zach told him softly.

"Where do I belong?" Stefan asked him.

"I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake." Zach said walking out the door. Stefan walked over to a cupboard and inside were journals with years written on them. He pulled out a very old one and opened it to reveal two old photos of Elena and Chloe. They were dressed in clothes that were popular back then with their hair curled. Elena's hair was half up with curls cascading down her back. Chloe had all her hair down, framing her face. At the bottom of the photos were two names and a date. Katherine. Anna. 1864.

* * *

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls." Mr. Tenner told us the next day in history class. "How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"

"Um . . . a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." Bonnie told him, making me smile.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Mr. Tanner told her before turning to another student. "Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it." Matt told him and we all laughed.

"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" Mr. Tanner asked her.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know." She told him.

"Chloe? Surely you pay attention." He said to me.

"I would know if you told us." I told him with a smirk and I could see the anger on his face at none of us knowing the answer.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break." He said looking between my sister and myself.

"There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians." Stefan told him.

"That's correct. Mister. . .?" Mr. Tanner asked for his name.

"Salvatore." Stefan told him.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" Mr. Tanner asked him.

"Distant." Stefan said.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Mr. Tanner told Stefan.

"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner." Stefan said to Mr. Tanner making a ripple of laughter go through the class.

"Hmm." Mr. Tanner said, looking at him.

* * *

That night, we were all at the bonfire party having a good time. Stefan arrived and started using his super hearing to track down Elena.

"Just admit it, Elena." Bonne told her.

"Oh, ok, so he's a little pretty." Elena told us.

"Oh, come one. He has that romance novel stare." I told her as Caroline walked up to Stefan.

"Hey! You made it!" she said happily.

"I did." He said with a smile.

"Well, let's get you a drink." She said, with a flirting smile.

"Well, I'm-" he started to say but she didn't let him finish.

"Oh, come on." She pulled him away as Bonnie, Elena and I continued talking.

"So where is he?" Bonnie asked looking around for him.

"I don't know. You tell me, you're the psychic one." Elena told her.

"Right, I forgot. Ok, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate." Bonnie told us.

"Wait, you need a crystal ball." I said looking around. I found a beer bottle and held it out to her. She grabbed it and my hand and spaced out for a moment before coming back to her senses, and abruptly pulling her hand away from me.

"What?" I asked her.

"That was weird. When I touched you, I saw a crow." She told me and I remembered the crow from this morning.

"What?" I asked her.

"A crow. There was fog, a man." She told me. "I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Ok, I'm gonna get a refill." She quickly left us and I stared at where she had been.

"Bonnie!" Elena called after her before sighing. I turned and jumped with Elena at the sight of Stefan.

"Hi." He greeted.

"Hi." Elena said with a smile.

"And that's my cue. Lovely to meet you Stefan. My name is Chloe, by the way." I said before walking away.

"I did it again, didn't it?" Stefan asked Elena.

"Yeah." Elena said, smiling at him.

"I'm sorry. You're upset about something." Stefan noticed.

"Oh, uh, no, it's- it's just Bonnie. She's... You know what? Never mind. You're . . . here." She said.

"I'm here." He said, smiling at her.

* * *

I walked to Caroline, Bonnie and Matt who were all standing by one of the many kegs.

"I would have thought you'd be trying to get your claws into Stefan by now." I said to my blonde friend as I got another drink.

"I've been trying but he wants nothing to do with me." She told me getting a drink. "I stopped him when he first got here but he gave me the slip."

"When has that ever stopped you?" I asked her and she smiled at me.

"Your right." She said smiling up at the bridge where Elena and Stefan were walking and talking.

* * *

"You know, you're kind of the talk of the town." Elena told Stefan as they walked on the bridge.

"Am I?" he asked her.

"Mm-Hmm. Mysterious new guy, oh, yeah." She said.

"Well, you have the mysterious thing going, too. Twinged in sadness." He told her.

"What makes you think that I'm sad?" she asked him.

"Well, we did meet in a graveyard." He reminded her making her laugh.

"Right. Well, no, technically we met in the men's room. You don't want to know, it's. . . .it's not exactly party chit-chat." She warned him.

"Well, I've never really been very good at, uh, chit-chat." He told her.

"Last spring. . my parents' car drove off of a bridge into the lake. And my sister and I were in the backseat and we survived, but. . .they didn't. So that's my story." She told him, looking down into her cup.

"You won't be sad forever, Elena." He told her and she smiled up at him.

* * *

Jeremy watched Vicki and Tyler all night as they talked and made out close to the fire. He had a front row seat as Tyler and Vicki walked away from the bonfire hand in hand into the woods. They started making out when Tyler pushed her into a tree and started to kiss down her neck.

"No, Ty. I'm not having sex against a tree." Vicki told him.

"Oh, come on, it would be hot." He told her.

"For who? No, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen, not here, not like this." She told him, but he ignored her and continued trying to undress her. "No. I said no." she tried pushing him off, but he was too strong. "I said no! Ow, that hurts!"

"Hey, leave her alone!" Jeremy called out. He'd heard her yelling and ran to her rescue, pushing Tyler away from her.

"You know, you're starting to get on my nerves, Gilbert." Tyler told Jeremy.

"Just go, Tyler, get the hell away from me." Vicki yelled at him.

"Wow. Vicki Donovan says no. That's a first." Tyler said before leaving.

"I didn't need your help." Vicki said, rounding on Jeremy.

"It seems like you did." Jeremy told her.

"He was just drunk." Vicki defended.

"I'm drunk. Am I throwing myself at you?" he asked her.

"No, you're worse. You want to talk to me, get to know me, see into my soul and screw and screw and screw until you're done with me." Vicki told him.

"Is that what you think?" Jeremy asked her, hurt lining his words.

"That's what I know." She said walking away from him.

* * *

"I like Bonnie, she seems like a good friend." Stefan said noticing Bonnie, Caroline, Matt and me next to a keg.

"Best friend in the world." Elena said smiling.

"I would think that title would be reserved for your sister." He told her.

"Chloe, pretty much hates me. Especially after our parents died." Elena told him.

"I don't believe she hates you." He told her.

"You'd be the only one." She said.

"And Matt, he can't seem to, uh, take his eyes off of us." Stefan told her, motioning to where we were.

"Matt's that friend since childhood that you start dating because you owe it to yourselves to see if you can be more." Elena told him.

"And?" Stefan asked.

"And then my parents died, and everything changes. Anyway, Matt and I, together we just, I don't know, it wasn't, um. . .it wasn't. . ." Elena struggled to find the right word.

"Passionate?" Stefan offered her.

"No. No, it wasn't passionate. . ." she told him. Suddenly she watched as his eyes started to turn red. "Hey, um, are you ok? Um, Your eye, it just, it's-"

"Oh, um... Yeah, no. It's, um, it's nothing." He said rubbing his eyes. "Um, are you thirsty? I'm gonna get us a drink." He then walked away from her, leaving her alone on the bridge.

* * *

As Vicki walked alone in the woods she looked around when she heard something strange.

"Jeremy? Is that you? . . . Jeremy?" she called to him. She looked around worried as fog descended around her. She started to walk away when something pulled her back and bit her.

* * *

Elena was walking around alone at the party, looking for Stefan when Matt showed up.

"Looking for someone?" Matt asked her.

"Hey." Elena greeted.

"When you broke up with me, you said it was because you needed some time alone. You don't look so alone to me." Matt told her.

"Matt, you don't understand. It's-" Elena tried explaining to him, but he stopped her.

"That's ok, Elena. You do what you have to do. I just want to let you know that. . .I still believe in us. And I'm not giving up on that." He told her.

"Matt. . ." Elena tried again as he walked away from her.

* * *

I watched as Stefan was walking back to Elena before stopping and concentrating hard, as though he was listening to something only he could hear. I pushed Caroline him, encouraging her to try again.

"Hey! There you are. Have you been down to the falls yet? Because they are really cool at night. And I can show you. If you want." She offered.

"I think you've had too much to drink." Stefan told her and she started giggling.

"Well, of course I have. So—" she tried again, but he stopped her.

"Caroline. You and me, it's not gonna happen. Sorry." Stefan said stepping around her and going to my sister.

"Are you alright?" I asked Caroline as she stood, frozen to her spot.

"I was wondering who abducted you, but now I know." I heard Elena say

"Is she like that with, uh, all the guys?" Stefan asked her.

"No. You're fresh meat. She'll back off eventually." She told him. Behind her I saw Jeremy walking into the woods and sighed before walking past them.

"You gotta be kidding me!" I mumbled to myself.

"What is it?" Stefan asked me and I turned to him and Elena.

"Our brother." I told him in two simple words and Elena sighed.

"The drunk one?" Stefan asked.

"That would be the one. Excuse us." Elena said as we walked away.

"Need some help?" Stefan offered.

"Trust me, you're not going to want to witness this. Jeremy! Jeremy!" Elena called as we followed him.

"Jeremy, where the hell are you going?" I asked him as we walked in the woods behind him.

"I don't want to hear it!" he told me.

"Yeah, well, too bad!" I told him. He suddenly tripped and fell.

"Vicki?" he asked and we rushed to him. "No! Oh, my god, it's Vicki!"

"Oh, my god!" Elena said as we looked down at her in shock. Her neck was covered in blood.

"No!" he yelled when she suddenly gasped, getting in as much air as she could. Jeremy picked her up and the three of us rushed back to the party.

"Somebody help!" Elena called out, getting everyone's attention.

"Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?!" Matt asked as he and Tyler rushed to us.

"What happened to her?" Tyler asked.

"Somebody, call an ambulance!" Matt called out.

"Everybody back up, give her some space!" Tyler ordered.

"It's her neck. Something bit her." I said.

"She's losing a lot of blood." Elena added.

"Put this on her neck." A boy said giving me something.

"Thanks." I said to him, pushing the cloth onto her neck.

"Vicki, Vicki, come on, open your eyes, look at me." Matt begged her. He looked up and saw Stefan take off, running from the bonfire.

* * *

Stefan ran into the Boarding House, where Zach was sitting.

"What's going on?" Zach asked him.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't me." Stefan said walking into his bedroom where a crow appeared.

"Damon." Stefan said turning to the balcony.

"Hello, brother." Damon greeted, smirking.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan asked him.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog." Damon told him.

"When'd you get here?" Stefan asked him.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school. Your hair's different. I like it." Damon told his little brother.

"It's been 15 years, Damon." Stefan reminded him.

"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads." Damon told him, his smirk still on his lips.

"Why are you here?" Stefan asked his older brother.

"I miss my little brother." Damon told him.

"You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do." Stefan said, remembering his words from long ago.

"I've managed to keep myself busy." Damon told him vaguely.

"You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you." Stefan told him.

"Ah. That can be a problem. . .for you." Damon told him.

"Why are you here now?" Stefan asked him.

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into two little words. . .Chloe and Elena." Damon said, his smirk growing.

* * *

The ambulance finally arrived and took Matt and Vicki off to the hospital.

"Hey. We're gonna go to Mainline Coffee, wait for news." Bonnie told us, motioning to her and Caroline.

"We gotta take Jeremy home." Elena told her and she nodded.

"Elena, Chloe, there's no way I'm psychic. I know that. But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling..." Bonnie stopped talking, fear settling into her gut.

"What is it Bonnie?" I asked her.

"That it's just the beginning." She told us.

* * *

"She took my breath away. Chloe. She's a dead ringer for Anna. Is it working, Stefan? Being around Elena, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?" Damon asked him.

"She's not Anna and Elena isn't Katherine." Stefan told him.

"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended. Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?" Damon asked him.

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work." Stefan told him.

"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?" Damon asked him, hitting him forcing Stefan to be pushed back.

"Stop it." Stefan told him.

"Let's do it. Together. I saw a couple girls out there. Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Chloe and Elena." Damon said.

"Stop it!" Stefan roared.

"Imagine what their blood tastes like!" Damon told him and Stefan looked away from him as his face fully transformed. Eyes red, black veins under his eyes and fangs protruding from his mouth. "I can."

"I said stop!" Stefan yelled turning to Damon and rushing him, throwing them both out of the window. But when he collided with the pavement, Damon wasn't there.

"I was impressed." Damon told him, standing not to far away. "I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face thing. It was good."

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die." Stefan told him.

"That's a given." Damon reminded him.

"Not here. I won't allow it." Stefan said.

"I take that as an invitation." Damon told him.

"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan begged him.

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word." Damon reminded him.

"Just stay away from Chloe." Stefan told him, knowing he'd go after her before Elena.

"Where's your ring?" Damon asked him and Stefan immediately looked down at his hand to see his ring gone. Stefan slowly looked up at Damon, realizing what was going to happen. "Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes. Relax. It's right here." Damon said showing him the ring and holding it out to him. When Stefan put his ring back on Damon grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the garage. "You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again." Damon listened to something for a moment. "I think we woke Zach up." He said walking to the house as Zach walked out of the house. "Sorry, Zach."

* * *

Back at the bonfire I sat next to Jeremy as he drank a beer as Elena walked up to us.

"You ok?" she asked and I gave her a look. "I called Jenna, she's on her way." We didn't say anything to her. "Those people in uniforms, last time I checked, they're the police." Elena told Jer. He finished the bottle and threw it on the ground. "People are going to stop giving you breaks, Jer. They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead, because they've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try, too."

"I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your diary. Is that-is that supposed to be you moving on?" he asked her.

"Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted this." Elena told us.

"Then what would they have wanted?" I asked her. "Go on, tell us. If you are such an expert on them, tell us what they would want."

"They would want us to get along." She told me.

"That's never going to happen." I told her.

* * *

"Are you sober yet?" Bonnie asked Caroline at the Grill as they drank their coffee.

"No." Caroline told her after a moment.

"Keep drinking. I gotta get you home. I gotta get me home." Bonnie reminded her.

"Why didn't he go for me? You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?" she asked Bonnie.

"I'm not touching that." Bonnie told her.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And . . . Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and . . . I'm never the one." Caroline said, looking back her life the best she could in her drunken haze.

"It's not a competition, Caroline." Bonnie told her.

"Yeah, it is." Care told her.

* * *

Matt was sitting at the hospital with Vicki. When she woke up, he gave a sigh of relief.

"Vicki. . .Hey. Hey, it's ok. You're gonna be ok." Matt reassured her.

"Matt-" Vicki tried talking but Matt wouldn't let her.

"Hey, don't try to talk, ok? You're fine." Matt told her.

"Vampire."

* * *

I sat at my window looking out to the stars, wishing I could see them closer.

* * *

_Dear diary, I couldn't have been more wrong. I thought that I could smile, nod my way through it; pretend like it would all be ok._

* * *

**I had a plan. I wanted to change who I was; create a life as someone new, someone without the past.**

* * *

_Without the pain._

* * *

_**Someone alive.**_

* * *

_But it's not that easy. The bad things stay with you._

* * *

**They follow you.**

* * *

Caroline sat alone at a table at the Grill and looked up to see Damon looking at her.

* * *

**You can't escape them, as much as you want to.**

* * *

Damon smiled at Caroline and she returned it.

* * *

_All you can do is be ready for the good. So when it comes, you invite it in, because you need it. I need it._

* * *

I looked down and saw Stefan and sent him a small wave, but he wasn't here for me. He was here for Elena. Everyone was.

* * *

Elena stopped writing in her journal and walked downstairs to the door and opened it.

"I know it's late. But, uh. . .I needed to know that you were ok." Stefan told her.

"You know, for months, that's all anyone's wondered about me. If I'll be ok." Elena told him.

"What do you tell them?" he asked her.

"That I'll be fine." She told him.

"Do you ever mean it?" he asked her.

"Ask me tomorrow. It's warmer in the house. We can talk. Would you like to come in?" she asked, moving so he could walk inside if he wanted to.

"Yes." He said smiling before walking into the house.

* * *

I was always second choice compared to her and I don't know how long I'll be able to handle playing second fiddle.


	2. The Night of the Comet

Previously on Chloe Gilbert:

I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her.

* * *

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Damon." He introduced. "And yours?"

"Chloe."

* * *

"I'm Elena."

"I'm Stefan." He introduced.

"I know."

* * *

"Last spring. . . my parents' car drove off of a bridge into the lake."

* * *

Elena walked to the cemetery to write in her journal close to her parents grave like she had been since they were buried.

* * *

"You won't be sad forever, Elena." He told her and she smiled up at him.

* * *

My sister and I didn't really get along. We had never really been close and while I shared death experience gave us something in common, it only drove us apart.

"Chloe, pretty much hates me. Especially after our parents died." Elena told him.

"I don't believe she hates you." He told her.

"You'd be the only one." She said.

* * *

"I live with my uncle."

"Any siblings?" I asked him.

"None that I talk to."

* * *

"Hello, brother." Damon greeted, smirking.

"Damon." Stefan said, turning to the balcony.

"Chloe. She's a dead ringer for Anna"

"Wherever you go, people die." Stefan told him.

* * *

"Oh, god, it's Vicki!" Jeremy told us.

"Something bit her." I said.

"She's losing a lot of blood." Elena added.

She suddenly gasped, getting in as much air as she could.

"Somebody help!" Elena called out, getting everyone's attention.

"Vampire."

* * *

"Don't you crave a little?" Damon asked him, hitting him forcing Stefan to be pushed back.

"Stop it." Stefan told him.

"Let's do it. let's just go straight for Chloe and Elena." Damon said.

"Stop it!" Stefan roared.

"Imagine what their blood tastes like!" Damon told him and Stefan looked away from him as his face fully transformed. Eyes red, black veins under his eyes and fangs protruding from his mouth.

"Stop!" Stefan yelled turning to Damon and rushing him, throwing them both out of the window.

"Stay away from Chloe." Stefan told him.

"I'll take that as an invitation." Damon told him.

* * *

A man and a woman were camping in the forest just outside of Mystic Falls and unknown to them, fog was descending around their tent.

"Hey. Did you hear that?" the woman asked her boyfriend, stopping the heavy make out session.

"Hear what?" he asked her.

"I heard thunder." She told him.

"There's no thunder." He said.

"Are you sure? Because if it rains, then we won't be able to see the comet." She reminded him.

"It's not gonna rain. Listen, I. . .got you a little something. It's back in the car. Don't you move." He told her before getting up.

"Stay dry." She told him.

"It's not gonna rain." He told her before leaving the tent. After a moment a dripping noise pounded on the tent and the woman smiled in triumph.

"I knew it! I told you it was gonna rain!" she said getting up and leaving the tent. When she got out she looked around, not feeling the rain she'd heard. She turned to look at the tent, the beam from the flashlight slowly turning with her. She saw a dark red liquid and followed the drips up to see her boyfriend in the tree, dead. She screamed and immediately ran for her car, hoping to stay safe there. "Open! No! Please!" she begged but the car was locked. Suddenly, the car beeped as the doors unlocked making her stop and look around nervously. Someone dropped from the trees and killed her.

* * *

Elena and Stefan each sat in their own rooms at their respective houses writing in their journals to start their days.

_Dear diary, this morning is. . .different. There is change. I can sense it, feel it._

**I'm awake. For the first time in a long time, I feel completely and undeniably wide awake.**

_For once, I don't regret the day before it begins._

**I welcome the day. . .**

**_Because I know. . ._**

**I will see her again.**

_I will see him again. For the first time in a long time, I feel good._

* * *

I looked at myself in the mirror, making sure I was ready for school. I had on a white sleeveless top with red designs on it to look like I was wearing a necklace. I wore a red blazer over it. White pants and cream heels completed the outfit and a red purse made me ready for the day.

"Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?" I heard Jenna ask from the bathroom. I walked outside my room to see her and Elena standing in the bathroom.

"Depends on where you're going." Elena told her as I joined them.

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference. Hair up or down?" She asked. She bundled her hair up on her head with her hands and I took a good look.

"Sexy stewardess." I assessed and she let it down. " Boozy housewife."

"Up it is." She said, getting what she needed for her hair. "You two are feisty today."

"I feel good, which is rare. So I've decided to go with it. Fly free, walk on the sunshine, and all that stuff." Elena told us walking back to her room with a smile.

"It's a new guy thing." I said glancing into Jeremy's room. "Where is Jeremy?"

"He left early. Something about getting to wood shop early to finish a birdhouse." She told me before pausing at the look I was giving her. "There is no wood shop, is there?"

"No." I told her.

"Yeah."

* * *

At Mystic Falls Hospital, Jeremy stood outside Vicki's room watching her.

"You can't be in here, hon. Visiting hours don't start till 9:00." The nurse told him.

"I just. . .how is she?" Jeremy asked her.

"She's lost a lot of blood." The nurse reminded him.

"Yeah, but she's gonna be OK, right?" Jeremy asked her.

"She needs her rest. So you come back later. Come on." The nurse walked him out and he went to school.

* * *

In light of the comet coming into our line of sight, Mr. Tanner was telling us everything he was supposed to about it. As he spoke, Elena and Stefan were gazing at each other, which annoyed me and made Bonnie happy.

"Originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 145 years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration. Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore? Ms. Gilbert?" I smirked at them getting caught and having to drop their gazes from each other as Mr. Tanner continued with the lesson before the bell rang.

* * *

"I brought it." Stefan told Elena as they walked down the school hallway, him handing her a book. "Told you."

""Wuthering Heights" by Ellis Bell. You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name." Elena told him.

"All the Bronte sisters used pseudonyms. It was the time. Female writers weren't very accepted then." Stefan told her.

"Where did you get it?" she asked him.

"Uh, it was passed down. Through the family." He lied to her. He hated it but he feared the day when she would know who he really was, what he really was.

"Ah." She said, nodding.

"I have lots of books. Go ahead. Keep it." He told her.

"Oh, no. I. . .but I would like to read it again. I promise I'll give it back." She told him smiling.

"Ok." He said, returning her smile.

* * *

"I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked Bonnie as the three of us walked down the hallway together.

"Technically, Grams says I'm a witch. My ancestors were these really cool Salem witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor so I kinda tuned out. Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so." She told us laughing.

"Yeah, well, feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night." Caroline told her.

"Or the last name and number of the guy I met in the woods." I said with a smile.

"I didn't see them, you two did. Why didn't you just talk to him?" she asked us.

"I don't know. I was drunk." Caroline told her laughing.

"I did talk to him. Last names and numbers just weren't exchanged." I said and they both laughed at me.

* * *

Outside the school Jeremy walked straight for Tyler, who was chatting up some blonde.

"Hey, Tyler. Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt. I was just wondering how Vicki's doing, since you guys are so close. Is she ok?" Jeremy asked, knowing he'd hadn't gone to see her.

"She's fine. Now get out of here." Tyler told him.

"How bad is she? Do they know what attacked her? Is she going to make a full recovery? Was she happy to see you? What room number was she in?" Jeremy asked him.

"I'm gonna kick your ass." Tyler told him.

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but when are you actually going to do it? Huh? 'Cause I vote for right here and right now." Jeremy said before shoving Tyler.

"Walk away, Gilbert. It's your final warning." Tyler warned him.

"No, this is your final warning, dick. I'm sick of watching you play Vicki. If you hurt her one more time, I swear to God, I will kill you." Jeremy warned him before leaving.

"Damn, that was like a death threat." Tyler said turning to the girls beside him. "Did you hear that?"

* * *

"They're keeping her overnight to make sure there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow." Matt told Elena and I as we walked.

"That's good news." Elena told him.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Did you get in touch with your mom?" I asked him.

"Called and left a message. She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so. . .we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home." Matt said sarcastically.

"Vicki's lucky that she's ok." Elena told him and I rolled my eyes. She didn't like Vicki cause she always thought she was better than her friends sister.

"I know, and now there's talk of some missing campers." Matt said.

"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?" I asked him.

"She said it was a vampire." He told us with a smile, signaling he didn't believe it.

"What?" Elena and I asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, she wakes up last night and mutters "vampire" and then passes out." Matt told us.

"OK, that is weird." Elena said.

"I think she was drunk. So what's up with you and the new guy?" Matt asked her.

"Matt, the last thing that I want to do is hurt you." She told him.

"You know, I'm. . .I'm actually gonna go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicki wakes up, get the real story about last night." He told us before leaving.

* * *

In the History classroom Jenna sat in one of the desks with Mr. Tenner in front of her.

"As Jeremy's teacher, I'm concerned. All right? It's the third day of school and he's skipped six of his classes." Mr. Tanner told her.

"Mr. Tanner, are you aware that Jeremy, Elena and Chloe's parents died?" Jenna asked him, leaning forward.

"Four months ago, a great loss. Car accident. Wickery bridge, if I remember correctly. And you're related to the family how? The, uh, mother's kid sister?" Mr. Tanner asked, looking at a file on his desk.

"Younger sister." She corrected.

"Right." He said.

"Yes. Six classes? Are you sure? I mean, that's kind of hard to do." She told him.

"Not when you're on drugs. It's his attempt at coping, Ms. Summers. And the signs are there. He's moody, withdrawn, argumentative, hungover. Are there any other relatives in the picture?" he asked her.

"I'm their sole guardian." She said, sitting up straighter.

"Uh-huh. Could there be?" he asked her and she grew angry and hurt at his words.

"What are you suggesting, exactly?" she asked him.

"It's an impossible job, isn't it, raising three teens?" he asked her.

"It's been tough, but, no, it's not." She told him honestly.

"Wrong answer. It is an extremely impossible job, and anything less and you're not doing it properly." He told her.

* * *

At the hospital , Matt was once again waiting for Vicki to wake up, but when she did she woke screaming.

"Whoa! Vick. Vicki, hey. Vick, it's Matt. Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her, trying to control her.

"No! No! Get off! No! No! No!" She screamed, terrified.

"Nurse!" Matt ran for a nurse and Stefan, who'd been waiting for him to leave her alone. He was able to quiet her struggles and looked deep into her eyes.

"It was an animal that attacked you. It came out of the night and jumped you. You blacked out. It's all you remember." Stefan told her.

"It's all I remember." Vicki said.

"An animal attacked you. You blacked out. It's all you remember." Stefan repeated.

"It's all I remember." She repeated.

"Nurse! I need help! It's my sister." Matt told her at the Nurse's Station and they rushed back to her room to see Vicki asleep.

"She seems fine." The nurse told him. Matt turned and watched Stefan walking out of the hallway and followed him. leaving. Stefan entered a room with blood donors and blood bags. His face started to change, but he left as quickly as possible. Matt entered the same room and looked for Stefan but couldn't find him.

* * *

"Well, I was talking to Grams, and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity." Bonnie told us at the Grill as we prepared fliers for the comet.

"Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens." Caroline said sarcastically before turning to Elena. "So then what?"

"So then nothing." Elena told her and she gave her a look.

"You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline asked her.

"Nope. We didn't go there." Elena told her.

"Not even a handshake? I mean, Elena, we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the smut." Caroline reminded her.

"She isn't lying, Care." I told her. "I would have heard her if anything happened since the walls were a touch thin.

"We just talked for hours." Elena said.

"OK, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already! Ok, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex!" Caroline said with a smile.

"Profound." Elena said, folding a paper before getting a look on her face and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked her.

"Caroline's right. It is easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying what I was going to do." Elena said grabbing her belongings and leaving.

"Bye then." I said waving with a smile.

"Why don't you go with her?" Bonnie asked me.

"And listen to the ramblings of two love sick teens? I don't think so." I said.

* * *

Jenna was in the kitchen of the Gilbert home when Jeremy walked in.

"I picked up dinner. Tacos. I had an urge for guacamole." She told him.

"No, I'm good, thanks." Jeremy told her.

"Eat anyway. It's a ruse. I want to talk." She told him. He didn't listen and started to leave again. "Hey, you! Come. Sit." Jeremy rolled his eyes but sat down at the island. "Back in school, freshman year, I could eat my weight in nachos, with extra cheese. It was my munchie food whenever I got stoned."

"You get high?" Jeremy asked, smiling at her.

"Did. Past tense. But, yeah. Loved it. Anything to get a little distraction from life. . .reality. And it worked. For a while. Never lasts, though." She said, going to the fridge. Jeremy saw his chance to leave and took it. "Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't love to rail back and kick it, but with a thesis looming and a waistline expanding. . ." Jenna looked up and sighed once she learned he was gone.

* * *

At the Hospital Matt was sleeping in a chair next to his sister's bed. Vicki was sitting up in bed, her lunch in front of her, and grabbed the jello on her tray and threw it at Matt. Matt jumped and looked around before looking at the jello cup.

"What the. . ." Matt asked.

"Finally you're awake." Vicki said with a smile.

"Hey. How are you feeling? You look better. I was worried before. You really had me freaked out with all that screaming." He told her.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" she asked him, confused by his words.

"You don't remember?" he asked her and she shook her head.

"I feel fine." She insisted.

"Good, good. Doctor said you could come home tomorrow. Vick, what attacked you in the woods?" he asked her and she hesitated before answering.

"An animal. What else could it have been?" she asked him. They both looked to the door as Jeremy walked in.

"Hey. How do you feel?" Jeremy asked her with a smile at seeing her awake.

"I'm OK." She told him.

"I. . .I'm gonna. . .I'm gonna go grab a coffee. Hey, Jer." Matt said before leaving the room.

"Why are you here?" she asked him.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." He told her.

"Did you see that look on Matt's face? That was suspicion. I don't want people to find out about us, Jeremy." Vicki told him.

"Well, you gotta get over that." Jeremy told her.

"Tyler is finally showing some interest." Vicki reminded him.

"You have to get over that, too. Do you see Mr. Concerned? Tyler? Are you under there? No." Jeremy said looking under the bed, making her laugh.

"It's not cool for people to know. Ok? I'm older than you, and Matt and Elena would freak." Vicki told him.

"No one's going to suspect anything. Why wouldn't I check on you? I mean, I'm the one who found you." Jeremy told her and she looked at him with a small smile, shocked.

"You are?" she asked.

"Yeah, I carried you out of the woods." Jeremy told her.

"Thank you." Vicki said, her smile growing.

"Yeah, you're welcome." He said, returning his smile.

* * *

I was walking the town square, headed to the woods when I saw Stefan walking to me. I smiled and waved at him which he returned.

"Stefan. My sister just went to see you at your house." I told him and his smile faltered.

"When?" he asked me.

"Not to long ago, why?" I asked him.

"My brother came back into town." He said.

"One of the siblings you don't talk to?" I asked him with a smirk.

"The only sibling." He told me and I nodded.

"Would he hurt her?" I asked him.

"You don't have to worry about that. I won't let him hurt her." He assured me and I smirked at him.

"I don't care about her." I told him. "But there are always people who always stand in front of the bullet for her."

"Do you really not care?" he asked me.

"Why should I?" I asked him. "She the good twin: the one who can do no wrong. I'm the darker half: the one who does everything wrong. So why should I care about her?"

"She's your sister." He said.

"She's my other half. Two parts of the same soul, some would say. We are destined to either hate each other or die for each other." I told him.

"And you choose to hate her?" he asked me confused.

"I choose not to die for her. If I die, I will die for me and me alone." I told him. "Want me to join you in finding my sister?" I asked him.

"If you like." He told me.

* * *

At the Salvatore Boarding House Elena went to the front door and knocked making it open on its own and walked in.

"Stefan?" she called as she moved into the large house. "Stefan?" A crow flew into the house and she turned to try and look at it to see Damon standing behind her. "I. . .I'm sorry for barging in. The door was. . .open." she turned to the door to find it closed.

"You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." He introduced himself.

"He didn't tell me he had a brother." She told him.

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second." Damon told her. They walked into the living room and her mouth opened in shock.

"Wow. This is your living room?" she asked looking around.

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste. I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." Damon told her.

"The last one?" Elena asked him, not liking the direction of this conversation.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend?" Damon said before looking at her. "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet."

"Nope." Elena told him.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end." Damon said with a smirk that reminded Elena of her sister.

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end." Elena said to him.

"I'm a fatalist." Damon told her. "Hello, Stefan." They both turned to see me and Stefan. I stared at the man I ran into in the woods.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan told her.

"I know. I should have called, I just. . . Chloe, what are doing with Stefan?" she asked me.

"I asked to join Stefan in coming to get you. Let's go home." I told her.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're both welcome to stay or come over any time. Aren't they, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But. . .I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." Damon told us.

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Nice to see you." Stefan said with a smile on his face.

"We need to go, Elena." I insisted.

"Yeah, I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon." Elena told him.

"Great meeting you, too, Elena." Damon said. Elena started walking to me but Stefan blocked her way staring at his brother.

"Stefan. . . .Stefan?" Elena asked him. Stefan moved and Elena left.

"Nice to see you again, Damon." I said following her out of the house.

"Great gals. Whoo. She's got spunk. You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you over-exert yourself today? Let me guess… hospital." Damon asked him.

"Someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan told him.

"Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right." Damon said, pouring himself a drink.

"How long was Elena here?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Were you worried, Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game, "I'm a high school human"?" Damon asked him.

"I'm not playing any game." Stefan told him.

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it." Damon reminded him.

"What kind of game are you playing, Damon?" Stefan asked him finally.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" Damon asked him.

* * *

Elena and I made it home in silence; thinking about what we'd learned today. Damon, the man I'd met in the woods, was my sisters romantic interest's brother. At least I knew his last name now.

"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues." Elena said as we got ready for dinner in the kitchen.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues. Or amphetamine issues." Jenna told her, making them both laugh.

"Or lying issues." I added to them and they both gave me a curious look. We heard someone walk into the house and we looked to see Jeremy.

"Jeremy? Jeremy, where were you?" Jenna asked him, walking up to him as he walked up the stairs.

"More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it, you were cool. And so that's. . .that's cool." Jeremy said before walking up the stairs again.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Jenna threw an apple at him and he stopped and turned to her.

"Ow! Why? Why. . .why did you do that?" he asked her.

"Listen up! Quit ditching class or you're grounded. No discussion." Jenna told him.

"Parental authority, I like it. Sleep tight." He laughed at her.

"Don't worry Jenna. He'll get over this soon enough." I told her as she rejoined us in the kitchen again.

* * *

Vicki woke up in the hospital. She looked at Matt and saw him sleeping in the same chair as before. She went into the bathroom to wash her hands, when she looked into the mirror and saw a glimpse of Damon. She gasped and turned around quickly, but he wasn't there. She walked back into her room and went to her brother.

"Matt. Mattie?" Matt turned into Damon with his vampire face. He moved into attack her and she woke from the nightmare.

* * *

The next day I was walking with Caroline as we handed out pamphlets.

"Tonight, night of the comet! Would you like a program?" Caroline asked someone walking by us before turning to me. "So what did your guy look like?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to back off him." I told her smiling and handing out a pamphlet.

"Then help me find my guy." She told me and I raised my eyebrow at her.

"You do remember I'm a firm believer in get him, use him, dump him. Right?" I asked her.

"Like you did with Tyler?" she asked me with a look.

"I got him, I used him, I dumped him. I just might not be done with him." I told her honestly.

"What else could you possibly use him for?" she asked me.

"I need a car." I told her and she started laughing. We soon separated and I handed out pamphlets on my own.

* * *

Elena and Bonnie were on the other side of the town square handing out their pamphlets.

"Tonight, night of the comet! Would you like a program? Would you like a program?" Bonnie asked people as they walked by her. "He didn't call, huh?" she asked her best friend.

"Or text. But I realized we never even exchanged that stuff. We've never gotten to the texting part." Elena told her.

"That's an important milestone in any relationship." Bonnie told her.

"Isn't it? The timing is wrong, anyway." Elena told her.

"When is it ever right?" Bonnie asked her honestly.

"I'm not ready, Bonnie." Elena insisted.

"Who is?" Bonnie asked her.

"At least I put myself out there." Elena told her and Bonnie gave her a look.

"Is that what you're calling it?" Bonnie asked her.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked her.

"All I'm hearing is reasons why you can't." Bonnie said.

* * *

Caroline saw Damon again across the street from her and made the decision to approach him. But as she got closer, he disappeared,

* * *

"What is Damon doing here? Why did he come home?" Zach asked Stefan at the boarding house.

"'Cause I came home. He wants to make my life miserable. That's how he enjoys his." Stefan explained to him.

"Well, he's putting us all at risk. This girl in the hospital could talk." Zach reminded him.

"She won't. I took care of her." Stefan told him.

"You're sure?" Zach asked him.

"I'm not sure, Zach. I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon." Stefan said.

"So what happens if it doesn't work?" Zach asked.

"I don't know. I'll deal with it." Stefan told him.

"Is she worth it? Uncle Stefan, this girl you came back for?" Stefan gave him a meaningful look before getting ready to go find Elena.

* * *

At the Mystic Grill, Jeremy was walking out when he ran into Vicki.

"Vicki, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asked her. Tyler, who was playing pool by himself saw them talking and watched them.

"Fighting with Robert about my schedule. You'd think getting ripped up by a rabid animal would merit an extra sick day." She said to him.

"Are you feeling ok?" he asked.

"I hurt." She said.

"Well, the doctor gave you something, right?" he asked her.

"The kid stuff. Nothing with an "o" in it. I think they were on to me." She told him and they laughed as he gave her a pill bottle.

"Here. Knock yourself out, literally." He told her.

"Thanks, Jer." She said before downing some pills.

"So you gonna, uh, watch the comet later?" Jeremy asked her.

"I hadn't really thought about it. But I could be talked into it. I'll meet you out there in a few." She told him as Tyler walked up to them.

"Hey, Vick. How you feeling?" Tyler asked her, drawing their attention.

"Like you care." She said before walking away from both of them. Jeremy held in his laughter behind a mocking smile, which Tyler caught.

"What are you lookin' at, Gilbert?" Tyler asked him, but Jeremy just smiled and walked away from him.

* * *

I stood with Caroline and Matt in the Town Square with some candles so we could watch the comet with Bonnie and Elena.

"Hey, I got some candles." I turned and saw Elena leading Caroline and Bonnie to me and Matt. Just where Elena always wanted to be, the head of the rest of us.

"Hey." Elena greeted me and Matt.

"Hey." Matt tipped his candle to hers and it lit up.

"Thank you." She said, smiling at him.

"You're welcome." He said, staring at her. Elena turned away from him and lit someone else's candle before looking up and seeing Stefan. I chose that moment to listen intently to what the others were talking about. I didn't want to overhear sister romance.

"Thank you. Hi." Stefan said.

"Hi." Elena said. Elena glanced back at the others us walking away slightly.

"You know, that comet. . .it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone." Stefan said from behind her.

"Yeah, Bonnie says it's a harbinger of evil." Elena told him.

"I think it's just a ball of. . .snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home. I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself." He apologized.

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing." She told him.

"Well, I have a lot to apologize for. Yesterday, that wasn't about you, ok?" he asked her.

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother." She told him after going over everything they had spoken to each other about.

"We're not close. It's, uh. . .it's complicated." He told her.

"Always. He told me about your ex. Katherine." She told him and he gave her a long look.

"What did he say?" he asked her.

"That she broke your heart." Elena told him.

"That was a long time ago." Stefan told her.

"When you lose someone, it stays with you, always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt." Elena told him, thinking of her parents.

"Elena. . ." he tried explaining but she wouldn't let him.

"It's OK, Stefan. I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. Complicated brother? Check. Complicated ex? Check. Too complicated to even contemplate dating, double check. It's OK. We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but. . .then the sun came up and reality set in. So. . ." Elena blew out her candle and walked away from him, leaving him to watch her.

"That's my sister for you. Always glass half empty." He turned to me and I walked up to him. I'd walked away from the others a while ago and eaves dropped on their conversation. I have this voice in my head telling me to know everything, who am I to deny it?

"Has she always been like that?" he asked me.

"To those who really know her, yes she is." I told him. "My sister isn't one for optimism. "

"Why not?" he asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"She anticipates getting hurt by everyone. She plans things out in her head and if they don't work out in her favor then she decides then and there that's how it's going to turn out." I told him.

* * *

Damon was sitting at the bar in the Grill, thinking when Vicki walked by. She looked at him before pausing at staring at him. She walked over to him slowly.

"I know you." She told him.

"Well, that's unfortunate." Damon told her, getting a good look at her.

"Um. . .I don't. . .I don't know how, but. . .your face. Excuse me. Sorry." Vicki said before going to the bathroom and taking some pills. When she looked up into the mirror, Damon was behind her and attacked her making her scream.

* * *

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy asked us as we all sat around a table together.

"You're her stalker. You tell us." Tyler told him and I nudged him.

"I can't find her." Jeremy told us.

"She probably found somebody else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced." Tyler said and I looked between the two boys.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena asked next to Matt.

"Ask him." Tyler said looking at me.

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy asked him.

"Are you dealing?" I asked him angrily.

"She's never gonna go for you." Tyler said not letting him answer me.

"She already did. Over and over and over again." Jeremy told us and we all looked at him shocked.

"Yeah, right." Tyler said, obviously not believing it.

"You slept with Vicki Donovan? I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline asked with a laugh in her voice.

"There's no way." Tyler denied but the denial was leaving his voice.

"And I didn't even have to force her into it." Jeremy told him.

"What the hell is he talking about, Ty?" Matt asked his friend.

"Nothing, man, just ignore him, he's a punk." Tyler told Matt.

"You know what, how about all of you shut up and help me find my sister?" Matt asked us.

"We'll check the back." Bonnie told him.

"I'll check the square." Matt said.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy told him.

"No you won't. Elena will go with them." I said. Elena opened her mouth to say something but I gave her a look and she left with Bonnie and Caroline to look for Vicki. "You are coming with me." I grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him aside. "So that's your game now, dealing?"

"I'm not dealing." He told me and I gave him a look.

"I'm sick of you lying to me Jer." I told him.

"You and Jenna, between the two of you. Enough already!" he told me.

"We can stop if you want. Send you to a therapist where you'll be forced to deal with it or to rehab where you'll sit in a small group and tell some strangers how you let your life fall apart around you." I told him.

"I vote for none of the above." He told me walking away from me.

* * *

Matt was walking away from the Grill when he came across Stefan, who was going to walk in.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." Stefan said.

"Have you seen my sister?" Matt asked him.

"No, sorry." Stefan answered.

"I can't find her. She's missing." Matt told him.

"I'll keep an eye out for her." Stefan told him before he started to go inside the Grill.

"Hey. I saw you at the hospital yesterday." Matt told him.

"Did you?" Stefan asked him.

"What were you doing there?" Matt asked him.

"Visiting." Stefan lied.

"Visiting? You know, Elena and I, we've known each other for a long time. We might not be together right now, but I look out for her. And I'll always look out for her." Matt warned him. Stefan, with his enhanced hearing, heard a scream nearby, followed by Damon and Vicki's voices.

"You really have to stop screaming." Damon told the teen.

"No, please, stop. Don't. . ." Vicki begged him.

"Shh. I got you. . ." Damon told her.

"Excuse me." Stefan said to Matt before leaving and looking for where Damon and Vicki were. He found them on the roof and looked around before jumping up to them.

"No! No!" Vicki yelled in fear at Damon.

"Shh, I'm not gonna drop you." Damon told her. Damon watched Stefan jump and smirked at him. "Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?"

"Let her go." Stefan ordered him.

"Really? Ok." Damon said, pulling her to the edge of the roof.

"No!" she screamed.

"No, no, no!" Stefan begged his brother.

"Ugh! Relax." Damon said, throwing Vicki to Stefan.

"What's happening?" Vicki asked Stefan.

"I don't need her to be dead, but. . .you might." Damon told Stefan. He pulled Vicki back to him. "What attacked you the other night?"

"I don't know. An animal." She told him.

"Are you sure about that? Think. Think about it. Think really hard. What attacked you?" he asked her again.

"A vampire." She said.

"Who did this to you?" Damon asked her.

"You did!" she screamed at him.

"Wrong!" he yelled at her.

"Don't." Stefan begged him.

"It was Stefan." Damon said, smirking at his brother.

"Don't." Stefan begged once more.

"Come here." Damon grabbed both sides of her head and looked deep into her eyes. "Stefan Salvatore did this to you."

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me." Vicki repeated.

"He's a vampire. A vicious, murderous monster." Damon told her.

"Please, Damon. Please don't do this." Stefan begged him.

"If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you can do now." Damon told him before pulling off Vicki's bandage and throwing her to Stefan. "Ugh! Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need. But you can change that. Human blood gives you that." Damon reminded him.

"No!" Vicki screamed.

"You have two choices. You can feed and make her forget. Or you can let her run, screaming "vampire" through the town square." Damon told him.

"That's what this is about? You want to expose me?" Stefan asked him.

"No! I want you to remember who you are!" Damon told him.

"Why? So what, so I'll feed? So I'll kill? So I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again? You know what, let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain me up, and let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you." Stefan told his brother.

"Huh. Huh. Wow." Damon said, not having expected that reply. "Come here, sweetheart."

"No!" Vicki screamed again

"It's OK." He told her. He whispered something in her ear and she stopped panicing.

"What happened? Where am I? Oh, I ripped my stitches open. Ugh. . ." she said putting her hand on her neck.

"You Okay?" Stefan asked her.

"I took some pills, man." She told him. "I'm good." She then left the roof, leaving the two brothers alone.

"It's good to be home. Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake-up call, don't you think?" Damon asked him.

"What are you up to, Damon?" Stefan asked him.

"That's for me to know and for you to. . .dot dot dot. Give Chloe my best." Damon told him with a smirk before leaving.

* * *

In the Grill, Stefan got Vicki to Matt who immediately helped her get a new bandage on.

"She said you found her wandering around." Matt said to Stefan once he was done.

"Yeah." Stefan agreed.

"So, um, thanks." Matt said before going back to his sister.

* * *

At another table Caroline and Bonnie were watching Vicki and Matt.

"Ugh, it's just so much drama. Ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?" Caroline asked her.

"Yeah." Bonnie agreed.

"Excuse me. Hi." Stefan said walking up to them.

"Hi." Bonnie greeted with a smile.

"Um, have you guys seen Elena?" Stefan asked them.

"I think she went home." Bonnie told him. He started to walk away when she called him back. "I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and her email. She is big on texting, and you can tell her... "I said so"."

"Thank you." He said, reaching out and taking the paper with Elena's number on it. They touched and she spaced out for a moment. "You ok?"

"What happened to you?" she asked him and he looked at her confused for a moment until she came back to earth. "That's so rude. I'm sorry. Excuse me." She quickly left, leaving Stefan and Caroline alone in an awkward silence.

"Yeah, she kind of wigs out. It's like her thing." Caroline told him.

* * *

Instead of hunting down Vicki I decided to go home. I knew they'd find her eventually, they always did. As I made my way upstairs I saw someone in Jeremy's room and walked to them.

"Jer?" I asked.

"No, it's me, the hypocrite patrol." Jenna said, getting her head out of his desk and moving to another part of the room.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I've become my worst nightmare. The authority figure who has to violate a 15-year-old's privacy." She told me before lifting up a green beer bottle from one of Jeremy's shoes. "Jackpot. I see the hiding places haven't gotten any more creative."

"What brought this on all the sudden?" I asked her.

"Your ass-hat of a history teacher shamed me good yesterday." She told me and I nodded.

"You got Tannered. Been there. Done that." I told her.

""Discover the impossible, Ms. Sommers." Got it. Thanks. Like I didn't know I was screwing up." She said and I sat on the bed, giving her a look.

"You're not screwing up, Jenna." I told her.

"Yes, I am. You know why? Because I'm not her. She made everything look so easy. You know, high school, marriage, having you. I can't do it. I'm gonna say or do the wrong thing, and he's gonna get worse, and it's gonna be my fault. It's impossible." Jenna said sitting on the bed next to me.

"That is just fear talking. You're scared because of what Tanner said, that's all. You are the only who has gotten us this far, you can help us get the rest of the way." I told her with a smile. "And we'll help you. We weren't the only ones affected by our parents death and I think sometimes we forget that."

"You are helping, just by being here." She told me, giving me a hug, smiling. I got up and walked out of Jer's room and walked by Elena's to see her looking out the window, her journal in her lap.

"If you're going to pine away on a guy, at least go and kiss him first." I told her and she turned to me in confusion and shock. "Go so I don't have to deal with it in the morning." She got up and quickly left and I made my way to my room.

* * *

Jeremy walked into the Grill after receiving a text from Matt saying they found Vicki. He saw Vicki by the pool table and smiled. He watched her as she talked to someone and Tyler walked up to her. She smiled at him and they kissed each other. Jeremy's smile fell and he left with a sad look on his face.

* * *

Caroline was walking to her car when she heard something and looked around for what it could have been. When she didn't see anything she continued her walk to her car when she clumsily dropped her key. She bent down to pick them up and when she stood again she saw Damon in front of her.

"Oh... whoa." She said.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." He said to her.

"No, it's fine. Um. . .I was hoping I'd see you again." She told him.

"I know." He told her with a smirk.

"Cocky much?" she asked him with a smile.

"Very much." He said.

* * *

Elena stood outside of the Salvatore Boarding House and rang the bell, hoping for Stefan. When he opened the door he stared at her in shock, not expecting to see her.

"Hi." Stefan said.

"Hey." She replied.

"Would you like to come in?" he offered her.

"The comet's actually this way." She said backing away from the doorway. He followed her and they stood where they could watch the comet. "Sorry for barging in. Especially after earlier."

"No, no. I'm glad you're here. The way we left things... I didn't like it." Stefan told her.

"See, the thing is, I got home tonight planning on doing what I always do, write in my diary, like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was 10. It's where I get everything out, everything I'm feeling. It all goes in this little book that I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid. But then I realized that I'd just be writing things that I should probably be telling you." Elena explained to him.

"What would you write?" he asked her.

"I would write. . ."Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was ok to give up. Don't take risks. Stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that. . ." I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that. . .the world's just going to come crashing down, and I. . . don't know if I can survive that." Elena told him.

"Do you want to know what I would write? "I met a girl. We talked. It was epic. But then the sun came up and reality set in. Well, this is reality. Right here."" He told her and they kissed.

* * *

At the Forbes House, Damon and Caroline were getting hot and heavy in her room. Her mother was working, as usual, so there was no need to be quiet. Damon was kissing down her stomach when all of a sudden, his face transformed and he bit her neck making her scream.

* * *

I sat at my vanity and looked in the mirror before coming up with my next plan. Vicki and Tyler would get back together, Caroline would obsess over her mystery guy before giving up and finding someone more her level, Elena and Stefan would occupy each other's time, Matt would pine after Elena, Jeremy would pine after Vicki, Bonnie was a possible wild card but not impossible to control, and Damon… I didn't really know him well enough to say what he would do. I smirked at my reflection. I needed more information on him, and I wanted it from the source.


	3. Friday Night Bites

Previously on Chloe Gilbert:

I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her.

* * *

"I'm Elena."

"I'm Stefan." He introduced.

"I know."

* * *

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Damon." He introduced. "And yours?"

"Chloe."

* * *

"You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." He introduced himself.

"He didn't tell me he had a brother." She told him.

* * *

"Being around Elena, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?" Damon asked him.

* * *

Elena and Stefan kissed.

* * *

My sister and I didn't really get along. We had never really been close and while I shared death experience gave us something in common, it only drove us apart.

* * *

"I don't care about her." I told him.

"Do you really not care?" he asked me.

"She the good twin: the one who can do no wrong. I'm the darker half: the one who does everything wrong. So why should I care about her?"

"She's your sister." He said.

"She's my other half. Two parts of the same soul, some would say. We are destined to either hate each other or die for each other." I told him.

"And you choose to hate her?" he asked me confused.

"I choose not to die for her. "

* * *

"He told me about your ex. Katherine." She told him and he gave her a long look.

* * *

He pulled out a very old one and opened it to reveal two old photos of Elena and Chloe. They were dressed in clothes that were popular back then with their hair curled. Elena's hair was half up with curls cascading down her back. Chloe had all her hair down, framing her face. At the bottom of the photos were two names and a date. Katherine. Anna. 1864.

* * *

"She broke your heart." Elena told him.

"That was a long time ago." Stefan told her.

* * *

I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number." They touched and she spaced out for a moment.

* * *

"What are you up to, Damon?" Stefan asked him.

"That's for me to know and for you to. . .dot dot dot."

* * *

Damon… I didn't really know him well enough to say what he would do. I smirked at my reflection. I needed more information on him, and I wanted it from the source.

* * *

"I was hoping I'd see you again." She told him.

* * *

Damon was kissing down her stomach when all of a sudden, his face transformed and he bit her neck making her scream.

* * *

Caroline woke up, gasping for breath after her nightmare. She looked at the mirror across from her bed and whimpered lightly at the blood on her neck. She looked behind her to her pillow was covered with blood and Damon was sleeping next to her in bed. It wasn't a nightmare, it really happened. She got up as quietly as she could and tiptoed to the door. As she walked something creaked and she looked back to the bed and watched as Damon slept before continuing her way to the door. As she began to turn the door knob she looked back and saw Damon wasn't on the bed. She turned back to the door to see Damon in front of her with a smirk on his face.

"Good morning." He said to her.

"Please... Don't!" she begged backing away from him. She looked behind her and saw her lamp.

"Don't do that. Ah, ah, ah, ah." He warned her. She swung the lamp at his face before dropping it and crawling away from him onto the bed.

"No! No! No! Get away from me! No!" she begged throwing her bloody pillow at him.

"This could have gone a completely different way." He told her before smelling the pillow. His faced changed and he attacked Caroline again making her scream in fear.

* * *

Bonnie had picked us up again for school this morning and Elena had been going on and on about her night with Stefan. I grabbed my gray clutch that matched my top perfectly and stepped out of the car in my light gray pumps and jeans, my white blazer open allowing the top to sparkle gently in the sun.

"I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie told her best friend.

"You were the one who said to go for it." Elena reminded her,

"Now I'm saying take it slow." Bonnie told her.

"Why the but-face?" Elena asked her.

"It's not an but-face. You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field." Bonnie told her.

"Because Elena's so that girl. I think you have to wrong twin Bonnie. Seriously, what are you not saying?" I asked her.

"It's stupid." Bonnie told me.

"Bonnie..." I warned her.

"What?" Bonnie asked her.

"Spit it out." I ordered her.

"I accidentally touched Stefan. And I got a really bad feeling." Bonnie explained.

"Is that it? Bonnie." Elena said giving her friend a look.

"It was bad bad!" Bonnie told her.

"Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" I asked her making a face.

"You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend." Bonnie explained to Elena.

"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that." She told Bonnie as we walked into the school.

* * *

"I rock. I scored 2 tickets to the Posers Saturday night. They're playing at the Rat." Vicki said kneeling next to Jeremy behind the school as he listened to music.

"You and Tyler have fun." Jeremy told her harshly. I was sad and angry she'd gone back to Tyler after the way she'd been treated. It made him curious if he'd ever treated Chloe like that. Thinking he might have only served to make Jeremy angrier.

"Don't be like that. Come on. I want you to go." Vicki told Jeremy.

"You're not worried everyone's going to know you're screwing the stoner geek? Oh, wait... everyone already knows." Jeremy said sarcastically.

"Yeah. But it's not like that anymore, so now we can be friends and just hang." She told him.

"Tell me something, was it the drugs? Were you sleeping with me because of the drugs?" he asked getting upset. He really liked her and felt like he needed to know.

"Screw you." She told him.

"No, if there's another reason, please, I'm all ears." He told her before she walked away from him.

* * *

"Good morning, Elena. Good morning, Bonnie. Good morning Chloe." Stefan said as he walked up to us.

"Hey, um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone. So I'll see you guys later." Bonnie said before leaving.

"I'm going to help her." I said before following her as quickly as I could in my heels.

"Bonnie, Chloe, wait..." Elena called after us but we didn't listen.

"They don't like me very much." Stefan said.

"Bonnie doesn't know you. She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you. As for Chloe, she has nothing against you she does doesn't want to feel like a third wheel." Elena told him with a smile on her face.

* * *

Matt and Tyler weren't too far away from where Elena and Stefan were talking to each other. Matt and another player from the team were tossing a football back and forth while Tyler stood next to Matt.

"Look... there's Elena and her new boyfriend. Now, what are they doing? Oh, they're walking, walking, walking. Yep. Right into the sunset." Tyler said to Matt.

"You're a dick." Matt told him throwing the football back to their other friend.

"While you just stand there looking like one of those little yard trolls." Tyler told him.

"Gnomes." Matt corrected.

* * *

"Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?" Elena asked Stefan pulling him in front of her.

"Yes." Stefan said immediately.

"Perfect. Dinner, my house. 8:00. You, me, Chloe and Bonnie. You three will spend some quality time and they'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished." Elena said with a smile on her face.

* * *

"Hey, what am I supposed to do, Ty? She made her choice." Matt reminded his friend.

"Let her know she made the wrong one." Tyler said removing his bag from his back and catching the football as it made its way to Matt,

"What are you doing? Ty, don't. Ty, don't! Ty!" Matt said before Tyler threw the ball at Stefan who quickly turned around and caught the ball before throwing it back to Tyler. Everyone who'd seen the action were shocked and amazed at what he did.

* * *

Inside the school everyone was talking about the event that had happened outside, spreading like wildfire. I grabbed my things for my classes and hung out with the cheerleaders that I was part of. It was the clique I had been part of with my sister before my parents died. I'd even went to the summer camp after they'd died, but the enjoyment was never there. I saw Elena and Stefan walking and talking together before turning back to my own conversations.

* * *

"That throw was insane. I didn't know you played football." Elena said with a smile to Stefan.

"I used to. It was a long time ago." Stefan said, remembering when he was taught the game.

"So why don't you try out for the team?" Elena asked him.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Stefan told her.

"So you don't like football?" Elena asked, growing confused.

"No, I love football. I think it's a great sport. But in this case, I don't think football likes me. You saw Tyler over there, and we both know how Matt feels." Stefan told her his reasoning.

"They don't know you. To them, you're mysterious loner guy. Wouldn't hurt to be part of. Make some friends." Elena told him.

"Says the girl who spends her alone time writing in a cemetery." He joked with her.

"Hey, come on. There's more to me than just gloomy graveyard girl. There's a whole other Elena that you have yet to meet. She was into everything, very busy." Elena assured him.

"Well, I look forward to meeting her. And when will that be?" Stefan asked her.

"Soon. She's working on it." Elena told him as they made their way to history class.

* * *

In class Bonnie was writing three numbers on her book: 8. 14. 22.

"World war II ended in... Anyone got anything? Miss Juan?" Mr. Tanner asked her but she just shrugged. "1945."

"Psst. FYI... Our team sucks. They could use you." Elena whispered to Stefan behind me.

"Can't." he whispered back.

"Pearl Harbor." Mr. Tanner was saying.

"I'm a loner." Stefan continued saying.

"Miss. Elena Gilbert?" Mr. Tanner asked her, making her turn to him quickly.

"Hmm?" she asked him.

"Pearl Harbor?" he asked her again.

"Um..." she thought but was never able to answer.

"December 7, 1941." Stefan told him.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." Mr. Tanner said making everyone laugh.

"Anytime." Stefan told him and Mr. Tanner took up the challenge.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall." Mr. Tanner said.

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir." Stefan told him.

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act." Mr. Tanner said.

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King."

"'68."

"Lincoln."

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade."

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board."

"1954."

"The battle of Gettysburg."

"1863."

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953."

"Ha!" Mr. Tanner said with a smug grin on his face. "It ended in '52."

"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53." Mr. Tanner stared at him as we all looked at Mr. Tanner.

"Look it up, somebody. Quickly." Everyone pulled out their books and phone looking for the date.

"It was 19... 53." A student said and I smiled at Tanner's shocked face.

* * *

"How did you know all of that?" Elena asked Stefan as they made their way out of class.

"Years and years of crossword puzzles. It's a loner thing." Stefan lied to her.

* * *

After school on the football field the football team was practicing as the cheerleaders were behind the bleachers stretching waiting for Caroline who'd been missing all day. Stefan sat in the bleachers watching the team practice.

"Nice job! Nice job!" Matt told his teammates as they finished a bit of practice.

"Mr. Lockwood, is there anything you're good at? 'Cause it isn't history, and it sure as hell isn't defending the ball!" Mr. Tanner yelled at Tyler.

"Yes, coach." Tyler agreed looking down at the ground.

"Now do it again!" Mr. Tanner ordered.

* * *

"Oh, my God! You're here!" I turned and saw Bonnie hugging Elena who was smiling.

"Yep. I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were are to do things that were. Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight." Elena told her.

"I am?" Bonnie asked with a smile.

"She is?" I asked confused. No one had told me anything.

"Mm-hmm. You, me Chloe, and Stefan. You guys have to give him a chance." Elena told us.

"Tonight's no good." Bonnie told Elena. "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

"No one's seen her all day." I told her.

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett and Chloe Gilbert! You're going to be there." Elena ordered.

"Fine. I'll go." Bonnie told her.

"Good." Elena said with a smile turning to me.

"I live there, Elena. Don't order me around." I told her as I continued warming up.

* * *

Stefan had talked himself into talking to Mr. Tanner for a shot at joining the team.

"Varsity trials were last spring, Mr. Salvatore." MR. Tanner told him.

"I wasn't here then, sir." Stefan reminded him.

"And you're not here now, as far as I'm concerned." Mr. Tanner told him.

"Mr. Tanner, I realize that you and I didn't get off to the best start, and I want to apologize for that. I've played football before. Wide receiver, mostly, and I'm pretty good." Stefan told him.

"Well, I won't be asking you who won the super bowl in '71." Mr. Tanner told him sarcastically.

"'71 was the..." Stefan saw the look Mr. Tanner was giving him and stopped talking. "Sorry. I... I understand that, sir."

"Just to see you get knocked on your ass. Borrow some gear. Go! Before I change my mind. Let's run it again!" Mr. Tanner shouted.

"First my girlfriend, now my team?" Matt asked watching Stefan walking to the locker rooms.

"Dude, this is an opportunity. Football's a contact sport. Sometimes people get hurt. Whoo! Ha ha!" Tyler laughed moving away from his friend.

* * *

"Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asked looking around to see if our blonde friend was walking up to us.

"I don't know. It's not like her." Elena said.

"Try her again." I told Bonnie. Suddenly I saw her riding up in an old car that was playing loud music.

"Uh..." Elena pointed behind her and Bonnie turned to look as we watched the car.

"Oh, my God. That must be the mystery guy from the grill." Bonnie told us and my face darkened.

"That's not a mystery guy." Elena told her as we got up. "That's Damon Salvatore."

"Salvatore, as in Stefan?!" Bonnie asked shocked.

"As in his older brother." I told her as Caroline got out of the car, kissing Damon and walking to us.

"I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." Caroline said with a smug grin as she made her way to stand in front of all of us. I watched Damon as he stared at us with a smirk on his face before driving off. "Sorry I'm late, girls. I, uh, was busy. All right, let's start with the double pike herkey hurdler, what do you say?" We all warmed up before running through the dance we'd all learned at camp. "And 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Elena, sweetie, why don't you just observe today? Ok? Keep going! Ok. Do it again from the top. And 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." Elena moved to the back and copied us before she saw Stefan making his way to the field. She moved to the bleachers and watched him do extremely well.

* * *

"Blue lady! Blue lady! Set, hut! Go! Come on, Tyler, cover it! Let's do it." Matt called out as they practiced.

"Get it." Mr. Tanner called out.

"Line up!" Matt called out. Elena smiled as Stefan kept doing a great job on the field. "I hate to say it, but he's got skills." Matt told Tyler.

"I think he needs a buddy pass." Tyler said, neither of them realizing Stefan was listening in on their conversation.

"Really?" Matt asked him.

"You don't get to walk on the field and act like you own the place after 5 minutes. Just hang one up there and I'll take care of the rest." Tyler told him.

"Do it again." Mr. Tanner called out.

"All right, let's huddle up. Set, hut!" Matt called out. Tyler ended up with the ball and threw it to Stefan, hitting him hard and forcing him on his back.

"Oh! Whoo! Welcome to the team, buddy." Tyler said before moving away from Stefan as the new team member sat up.

"You gonna live, Salvatore?" Mr. Tanner asked him.

"Yeah." Stefan answered.

"Walk it off, son." Mr. Tanner said as Matt made his way to him.

"Hey. That was my bad." Matt told him, helping him to stand.

"It's all right." Stefan told him.

"Yeah." Matt then moved back to the rest of the team.

"All right." Mr. Tanner called out. Stefan pulled off one of his gloves and looked down at his broken pinky. He popped it back into place and watched as it turned back into its normal fleshy color.

* * *

Stefan walked into his room at the boarding house after a shower and saw Damon reading one of his journals.

"How were tryouts? Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many... Adjectives." Damon said. Stefan moved quickly and ripped the diary out of his brother's hands.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked him.

"I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and... I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother, and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it, too. That I can learn to be a non-living living person. Maybe there's hope for both of us." Damon told him. He kept a straight face for as long as he could before he started laughing.

"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon." Stefan told him.

"Of course it doesn't." Damon agreed. "I saw Chloe today, BTW. That means "by the way." She was at cheerleading practice. She looked so perky in her little short shorts. Just..." Damon saw the worried look Stefan was getting, thinking he'd hurt the sassy Gilbert somehow. "Simmer down, I didn't even go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now. Ooh, that reminds me... I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck." Damon smirked at him and left the room.

* * *

Elena, Bonnie and I were all preparing dinner in the kitchen as Bonnie told us more about her new "powers" her grandmother said she had.

"You explain it. Last night, I'm watching Nine-o, a commercial breaks come on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial. And sure enough, it's that guy and the girl with the bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back. They take a picture." She told us.

"Oh, come on. That commercial's on a constant loop." Elena told her.

"Fine. Well, how about this? Today I'm obsessed with numbers. 3 numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22. How weird is that?" she asked as and Elena and I paused in our preparations for dinner looking at each other before turning to her.

"Maybe we should play the lottery." We said together before we all laughed.

"Have you talked to your Grams?" I asked her.

"She's just gonna say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?" Bonnie asked us.

"I don't want to be a witch." Elena said making a face.

"Not our heritage." I reminded her as Elena poured the to-go food into a bowl.

"And putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody." Bonnie told her and we laughed.

"Ok, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?" Elena asked looking at me and I shrugged. I didn't cook in this house.

"Middle drawer on your left." Bonnie said pointing at the drawer. We all looked at each other and Elena moved to the drawer and opened it before slowly removing the serving spoons.

"Ok, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times." She reasoned.

"Yeah, that's it." Bonnie agreed as the doorbell rang.

"Ok, he's here. Don't be nervous. Just be your normal loving selves." Elena told us with a smile before going to the door.

"Birthday candles." Bonnie said before opening a drawer to reveal birthday candles inside it.

* * *

We all sat at the dining table in an awkward silence our plates full.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked her boyfriend.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan told her.

"Bonnie, Chloe, you guys should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and..." Elena started saying but we stopped her.

"Yeah, we heard." Bonnie said.

"It went around school quickly." I told them.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena told Bonnie.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie told him.

"No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool." Elena said and Stefan gave her a confused look that the other two didn't seem to notice.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use." Bonnie told her.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s." Stefan told her.

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie explained.

"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan asked her.

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"I would say that's pretty cool." Stefan said smiling at Elena.

"Really?" I asked him.

"Why?" Bonnie asked him.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity." Stefan told her and she thought about it before smiling.

"Yeah, they are." She said with a smile. Suddenly the doorbell rang again. I threw Elena a confused look.

"Did you invite anyone else?" I asked her.

"No." she told me and I got up and answered the door to see Caroline and Damon.

"Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert." Caroline told me holding a cake.

"Oh?" I asked her looking at Damon.

"Hope you don't mind." Damon said with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" I turned and saw Stefan behind me before turning back to Damon and Caroline.

"Waiting for Chloe to invite me in." Damon said with a smirk as Caroline walked inside.

"Oh, yeah?" I asked him.

"No, no, no. He can't, uh... he can't stay. Can you, Damon?" Stefan asked him.

"Get in here." Caroline told him.

"We're just... finishing up." Stefan said and I gave him a look.

"It's fine." I told him. "Just come on in." Damon walked in before turning back to me.

"You have a beautiful home, Chloe." She said with a smirk. I saw the looks they shared: one of worry and the other of triumph.

"Thank you." I said closing the door.

* * *

We sat in the living room after dinner and the cake Caroline and Damon brought to us.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Caroline said sitting on the edge of the chair close to Damon. Elena, Stefan and I sat on the couch, Stefan between us, while Bonnie sat on a chair opposite Damon and Caroline.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon said with a smirk.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines." Caroline said and I smirked before taking a drink of the tea I'd made.

"Chloe and I'll work with her. She'll get it." Bonnie said and my smirk fell.

"I will?" I asked her and she gave me a look, making me sigh. "I suppose I will."

"I guess we can put her in the back." Caroline said planning the formations in her head.

"You know, you two don't seem like the cheerleader type, Chloe, Elena." Damon told us.

"Oh, it's just 'cause their parents died. Yeah, I mean, they're just totally going through a blah phase. They used to be way more fun." I gave Caroline and dark look and she paled slightly." And I say that with complete sensitivity."

"I'm sorry." Damon said to us. "I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die."

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan told him.

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring them up." He said with a smirk and I looked away from him.

* * *

At they Grill Tyler was standing behind Vicki as she worked and grabbed her ass.

"Don't do that. Not while I'm working. I'll see you later." She told him.

"I'll see you later." He told her. Matt was playing pool by himself with Jeremy sitting close by, both boys watching the couple.

"She's my sister and I love her, but sometimes she can really make you work for it." Matt told Jeremy.

"I find it pretty easy." Jeremy told him before getting up and leaving. As he walked by Tyler, they elder teen bumped into him and they turned to each other.

"All right, I get it. Hit me to impress her. That's... That's real nice." Jeremy told him.

"I don't need to impress her. I already won." Tyler told him. Jeremy suddenly punched Tyler knocking him back slightly. "Now you're dead."

"Am I? 'Cause it seems like I'm standing here waiting for you to man up." Jeremy told him. Both boys went to attack each other. Matt held Tyler back and another boy held back Jeremy.

"Ty, don't!" Matt said.

"The next time I see you, Gilbert..." Tyler said.

"No, next time I see you." Jeremy corrected before both boys walked away leaving Vicki and Matt staring at eachother.

"What are you doin', Vick?" Matt asked following Tyler, leaving his sister to be confused.

* * *

I was in the kitchen alone doing to the dishes when I heard someone walking in behind me.

"One more." I turned and saw Damon walking to me with a cup in his hand.

Thank you." I said going to grab it. Suddenly it slipped from our grip and he quickly caught it making me smile.

"Nice save." I laughed turning back to the dishes.

"I like you." He told me and I gave him a look. "You know how to laugh." He explained.

"Earlier, did you mean Katherine?" I asked him, thinking on the exact words he used.

"Mm-hmm." He answered.

"Who else?" I asked him.  
"Her sister, Anna." He said and his voice told me he knew her very well. Defiantly ex.

"What happened to her?" I asked him.

"They died together." He told me as he helped me load a dish in the dishwasher.

"How did they die?" I asked him.

"In a fire. Tragic fire." He told me.

"Recently?" I asked him.

"It seems like it was yesterday." He said.

"What were they like?" I asked him.

"They were twins, like you and Elena. But unlike you and Elena she loved her sister very dearly, making sure she was always taken care of and protected. She'd do anything for her. Anna was beautiful. A lot like you in that department. She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive. I have no doubt you two would have gotten alone very well." He told me and I smiled at him. She did sound like me, except for protecting our twins. "I'd quit cheerleading if I were you."

"Why do you say that?" I asked him with a smirk closing the dishwasher.

"Oh, I saw you at practice. You looked miserable." He told me and my smirk fell.

"I didn't know you stuck around to watch." I said avoiding the question.

"Am I wrong?" he asked me.

"I joined because my mom wanted me to. She wanted Elena and I to get along more than anything. Cheerleading was something my sister was always good at and my mom wanted me to be just like her. I think that's why Elena and I never got along. Still don't." I told him. For some reason I felt he should know, like he was going to be in my life for a long time.

"Quit cheerleading. Don't be your sister. You're perfect just the way you are." He told me and I looked up at him shocked by his words.

"And how do you know how I'm like?" I asked him.

"I don't, yet. But I know that you are who you are. Why change that?" he asked me and I was stumped at his words.

"I'm sorry. About Anna." I said to him, stepping closer to him. We were so close we were a breath away from kissing when Elena and Bonnie walked into the kitchen.

"Hey. Need some help?" Bonnie asked and I stepped away from him looking down before looking up at them.

"Sure, why not?" Damon said leaving the kitchen.

"What were you thinking?" Elena asked me as we started folding the towels. "That's Caroline's boyfriend and you were seconds away from kissing him."

"I wouldn't have kissed him." I told her. "Why should I defend myself? Nothing happened."

"We have to tell Caroline he was coming onto you." Elena said.

"And ruin her happiness? I don't think so." I said and she gave me a look. "If you tell her anything then I will destroy you."

* * *

"Matt tries, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox." Caroline told Stefan.

"That's a really nice scarf." Stefan complimented.

"Mm. Thank you, it's new." She told him with a smile.

"Can I see it? I mean, would you mind taking it off?" he asked her.

"Oh, I can't." she told him.

"Why not? You ok?" he asked her, knowing the answer.

"Um... All I know is that I can't take it off." She told him.

"What are you two kids talking about?" Damon asked when he walked back into the room.

"I was just commenting on her scarf." Stefan told him.

"Hmm. Hey, you know, um, Chloe, Elena and Bonnie are finishing up the dishes. Why don't you go see if you can help?" Damon asked her.

"Does it look like I do dishes?" Caroline asked him.

"For me?" he asked her.

"Hmm... I don't think so." She told him, looking up at him finally.

"Go see if Chloe needs help in the kitchen." Damon said, compelling her.

"You know what? I'm gonna go see if Chloe needs some help in the kitchen." Caroline said as if she'd come up with the idea.

"Great." Damon said with a smile.

"They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to." Stefan told him.

"Sure she does. They all do. They're whatever I want them to be. They're mine for the taking." Damon corrected him.

"All right, you've had your fun. You used Caroline, you got to meet Chloe, good for you. Now it's time for you to go." Stefan insisted.

"We met in the woods on the first day of school. That wasn't my agenda for coming here. Leaving's not a problem. Because... I've been invited in, and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with my little cheerleader whatever I want to do. Because that is what is normal to me." Damon told him.

* * *

A man was kissing my neck making me moan lightly. I leaned my body against his as we danced my back to his front. He turned me to him and kissed me deeply, moving me to the bed. He pushed me onto the bed and I looked up to see Damon.

"What are you…?" he stopped me from talking by kissing me again. That was the moment I shot up in bed and looked around to find myself in my room alone unaware of the crow in my window.

* * *

**There must be a shred of humanity left inside my brother. Somewhere. I keep hoping. But how do I make him see it? And how do I protect her?**

Stefan stopped writing in his journal and opened a box he'd been holding onto for years and pulled out a necklace.

* * *

I woke up the following morning and found something on my windowsill. I walked to it and picked up a box and a variegated tulip. I opened the box and found a locket. The locket had a white tulip on it and was a faded gold color, as though it was very old. I opened it and found an herb. I smelt it but didn't recognize the scent so I took out the herb and put it in a small clear bottle on my vanity before putting on the necklace. I wore a rosewood colored sleeveless top with dark blue jeans and a cream colored blazer. I wore rosewood colored heels and had a small purse I could easily hold on my wrist with colors that matched my outfit. I went down and joined Elena and Jeremy to go to the game.

* * *

"Ooh. Look at you. You look hot in your jersey." Elena said to Stefan as he walked up to her with a smile.

"What happened? No more cheerleader?" he asked her when he saw her in jeans and a t shirt.

"I quit. I'm a quitter." She said.

"No, hey, you're not a quitter. You suffered a great loss. You're not the same person. You should be looking ahead. You should be starting over. Ok? I hope you don't think this is too soon or too weird, but... I, uh, I wanted you to have this." Stefan told her pulling out one of the necklace's he'd been holding on to. He'd had it since the 1920's, one of his darkest times. Elena took it from him and admired it.

"Oh, my God, it's beautiful." She said to him.

"It's something that I've had forever, and, uh, I've never wanted to give it to anyone until now. I'd very much like it if you'd wear it for me, for... good luck." Stefan said to her.

"Is that rose that I smell?" she asked smelling the pendant.

"No, it's, uh... it's an herb. It's nice, huh?" he asked her.

"I love it." She told him smiling. Stefan helped her put it on and admired her in it. "And, uh, I wanted to thank you for pushing me to try out for the team. It feels really good."

"We're a pair. I quit, you start." She told him laughing.

"Right. We're a work in progress. We'll figure it out." He told her before they kissed. He walked away from her and she turned to see Caroline.

"And you're not in uniform because..." Caroline asked her.

* * *

I was avoiding Caroline. She would never understand why I was quitting cheerleading. I had taken Damon's advice and quit because he was right. Suddenly someone grabbed my arm and spun around to see Tyler. I slapped he laughed at me.

"Tyler, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"It's game day. I'm going to play." He told me as if I didn't know.

"I know that, I mean what are you doing here with me? Shouldn't you be with Vicki?" I asked him.

"Maybe I don't want to be with Vicki. Maybe I want to be with you." He told me and I gave him a look.

"You're with Vicki, not me. Get over it." I told him before walking right into Caroline.

"First Elena and now you? Where is your uniform?" she asked me and I sighed.

* * *

Later that night people were tailgating and cheering for the team who stood in front of a small stage that Mr. Tanner was standing on.

"Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" Everyone in the crowd booed at his words. "But that is about to change." At his words everyone cheered. "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" everyone cheered for Stefan.

"This blows. He can't start the guy. He just got here." Tyler said walking away from the rest of the line up.

"That have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to say to you... Your Timberwolves are hungry." Everyone cheered as Tyler walked up to Vicki.

"Hey, babe. What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing." He told her.

"And the central high lions are what's for dinner!" Mr. Tanner said and we all cheered.

"Is that Jeremy?" Tyler asked seeing Jeremy with two others sitting in the back of a truck.

"Wait, no! Ty! No." Vicki tried to stop him but it was too late. Jeremy got out of the truck and stood in front of Tyler looking at him and Vicki.

"Oh, what do you care? Don't look so down. You can have her when I'm done." Tyler told him and that set him off. Jeremy punched him and the two boys began to have a huge fight, catching the eye of everyone.

"Tyler, stop it! Tyler! Tyler, stop! Stop it!" Vicki yelled at her boyfriend but he wasn't listening to her. He was angry because he couldn't have Chloe Gilbert, who he'd fallen in love with but screwed it up by screwing Vicki. He was angry with himself and Jeremy kept pissing him off so much that he just couldn't take it anymore. He was blind with rage. "Stop, you're hurting him! Tyler! Tyler, stop! Tyler! Stop it! Tyler, stop!" Stefan grabbed Tyler's wrist to stop him from hitting Jeremy as Elena and I arrived to see the fight.

"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan told Tyler. Tyler punched Stefan but it had no effect on him. Tyler looked at him scared as Jeremy picked up a broken glass and went to strike Tyler. Stefan moved him out of the way and put his hand in the way getting cut deeply.

"Jeremy, no!" Elena shouted as we went up to him. Matt moved to Tyler and pulled him away from Jeremy and Stefan.

"Tyler, knock it off! Stop!" Matt told him. Stefan looked at the cut on his hand and watched it bleed for a moment.

"What the hell, Jeremy? Put your head up, you're bleeding." Elena told him.

"I'm fine!" Jeremy told us.

"Yeah, you smell fine." I complained making a face.

"Just stop, ok?" he told us walking away.

"Jeremy!" I called after him.

"Come on, man. Come on." Matt said to Tyler, still pulling him away from us. I moved to Tyler and slapped him.

"Stay away from me and my family, Tyler. I don't want to see you ever again." I said going back to Stefan.

"Oh, my God, your hand." Elena said, going to Stefan. He quickly closed his palm and put his hand behind his back.

"No, no, no, it's fine." Stefan told her.

"Is it deep? How bad is it? Come on!" She asked him. She finally grabbed his hand and opened his palm, but all she saw was a red line. "But... I saw it, it was..."

"He missed. It's not my blood. See?" he wiped his hand on his pants and showed his palm fully healed. "I'm fine."

"No, no, no. I... I saw it. The glass cut your hand. It was..." Elena said trying to make sense of what she saw.

"It's ok. I'm ok. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, um, I'll, uh, I'll see you after the game." Stefan quickly walked away and Elena walked to the cheerleaders to talk to Bonnie. I saw something catch light. I bent down and picked up the glass Jeremy had used to try and cut Tyler and saw blood on one of the sharp edges. I watched as Stefan walked away and wondered what it could have been. It didn't have blood on it before so who's blood is on it if not Stefan's?

* * *

"Hey, Tiki, it's all wobbly. Can you stand straight, please? Could someone please help Tiki?" Caroline asked to other cheerleaders as they tried to get the banner up.

"Hey! Where you been?" Bonnie asked Elena as she walked up to them.

"Can I ask you a question and you give me a really serious no-joke response?" Elena asked her.

"Of course. What is it?" Bonnie asked her.

"The bad mojo. When you touched Stefan and you had that reaction..." Elena started saying but Bonnie interrupted her.

"You know what, forget I said that. Your little dinner party plot totally won me over." Bonnie said.

"No, Bonnie, seriously. What was it? Did you see something, Or..." Elena broke off.

"It wasn't clear like a picture. Like today, I keep seeing those same numbers I told you about... 8, 14, 22." Bonnie told her.

"Yeah?" Elena agreed.

"When I touched Stefan, it was a feeling. And it vibrated through me, and it was cold, and it..." Bonnie stopped talking and stared at Elena.

"And what?" Elena asked her.

"It was death. It's what I imagine death to be like." Bonnie told her

* * *

I put something in the car and turned before being surprised by Damon.

"You scared me. What are you doing here?" I asked him.

_"I'_m hiding from Caroline." He told me and I gave him a look.

"And why is that?" I asked him.

"I needed a break. She talks more than I can listen." Damon told me and I laughed lightly.

"She's always been like that." I told him.

"Well, she's awfully young." He told me.

"Not much younger than you are." I told him and he smirked at me.

"I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she'd drive me crazy." He told me.

"Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but she's my best friend." I reminded him.

"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention." He told me and I gave him a look, making sure he knew I didn't believe him.

"Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say. " I told him.

"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you." He told me.

"Do I?" I asked him.

"Mm-hmm. I see 'em. You want me." He told me and I laughed at him.

"Excuse me?" I asked him.

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dream about me." He told me. "And right now... You want to kiss me." He told me. He leaned down close to my face and I smirked at him.

"Do you really think your looks would be able to lure me in?" I asked him. "I use that trick all the time to get what I want, so you'll have to try harder. I'm no one's second choice and I'm no one's mistress." I backed away from him and walked away. "Try again when your single."

* * *

"You gonna be able to play?" Matt asked Stefan referring to his hand that had been cut.

"Oh, yeah, I'm good." Stefan told him.

"Uh, what you did back there... you had Jeremy's back." Matt stated.

"Ah, he's a messed-up kid. Somebody's gotta look out for him." Stefan said.

"I know. This week at practice I was a dick." Matt told him.

"Had your reasons." Stefan reasoned.

"No excuse." Matt said holding out his hand in offer to Stefan. Stefan took it. "Good luck tonight. We're lucky to have you." Matt said turning and leaving. Damon clapped after Matt left, revealing himself.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend. It's all so, "rah, rah, go team, yeah!"" Damon mocked him.

"Not tonight. I'm done with you." Stefan told him.

"Nice trick with Chloe. Let me guess... vervain in the necklace?" Damon asked him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stefan told him confused. Damon gave him a confused look before ignoring his words.

"I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion. Where'd you get it?" Damon asked.

"I gave all the vervain I had to Elena. I didn't have enough for Chloe." Stefan told him and silence enveloped them. If Stefan and Damon didn't give the necklace to Chloe then who did?

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just... eat her." Damon told his brother.

"No. You're not gonna hurt her, Damon." Stefan said confidence.

"No?" Damon asked his brother.

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be." Stefan said to him.

"Who's pretending?" Damon asked him.

"Then kill me." Stefan told him.

"Well, I'm... I'm tempted." Damon told him.

"No, you're not. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After 145 years. Anna is dead. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity." Stefan told him.

"Salvatore! What the hell? We've got a game to play!" Mr. Tanner said going to the two brothers.

"If that's my humanity... then what's this?" Damon asked going behind Tanner and killing him.

"No!" Stefan shouted.

"Anyone, anytime, any place." Damon told him, blood still dripping down his chin.

* * *

"Tanner's M.I.A. I think he had a little bit too much beer." Tyler said to Matt in the locker room.

"Don't talk to me right now, all right? I'm pissed at you." Matt told him.

"What's your problem?" Tyler asked him.

"What's my... You're my problem, all right? You're a bully. A freakin' 12-year-old bully, man. And I'm sick of it. I mean, what was that about tonight? What's beating up the new guy going to prove? Or screwing with my sister or pummeling our girlfriend's kid brother." Matt said.

"Girlfriends? Look, I don't know how to tell you this, but they dumped your asses. Are you for real?! You want to hit me? I'm on your team." Tyler yelled at him.

"This was over the line. Even for you." Matt said leaving the locker room. He turned and saw a body and quickly ran to it to see Mr. Tanner's neck covered in blood. "Somebody help!"

* * *

The police were everywhere. Bonnie looked at the scene like everyone else. She looked at the license plate "BLDG 8", the car is "FHT 14" and on the ground, the number 22. Bonnie gasped in fear at her realization.

* * *

On the football field Jeremy was sitting by the bleachers when Vicki walked up to him.

"It wasn't just for the drugs." She told him before walking away.

* * *

"What kind of animal could be doing all this? Why would it come out of the woods and attack someone in the middle of town?" Elena asked Stefan as she freaked out.

"I don't know. I don't know." Stefan said comforting her.

"I was so sure that you cut your hand. I saw it." She said holding his hand.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, ok? We're fine. That's what matters." He told her, holding her close to him.

* * *

**I thought there was hope that somewhere deep inside, something in Damon was still human, normal. But I was wrong. There's nothing human left in Damon. No good, no kindness. No love. Only a monster who must be stopped.**

* * *

Damon stood in Chloe's room, watching her sleep peacefully. On her vanity was still the glass with the vervain from her necklace. How had she been able to resist is compulsion? He noticed hair was covering some of her face and gently moved it out of the way before caressing her face. He noticed she started to wake up and quickly left out of the open window.


	4. Family Ties

Previously on The Bad Twin:

I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her.

* * *

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Damon." He introduced. "And yours?"

"Chloe."

* * *

"I'm Elena."

"I'm Stefan." He introduced.

* * *

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother." She told him after going over everything they had spoken to each other about.

"It's complicated."

* * *

"Chloe. She's a dead ringer for Anna" Damon told Stefan.

Stefan pulled out a very old journal and opened it to reveal two old photos of Elena and Chloe. They were dressed in clothes that were popular back then with their hair curled. Elena's hair was half up with curls cascading down her back. Chloe had all her hair down, framing her face. At the bottom of the photos were two names and a date. Katherine. Anna. 1864.

* * *

"She's not Anna and Elena isn't Katherine." Stefan told him.

* * *

"Earlier, did you mean Katherine?" I asked Damon, thinking on the exact words he used.

"Mm-hmm." He answered.

"Who else?" I asked him.

"Her sister, Anna. They were twins."

* * *

"Anna is dead. And you hate me because you loved her." Stefan told his brother.

* * *

"I was hoping I'd see you again." Caroline told Damon.

* * *

"She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to." Stefan told him.

"They're whatever I want them to be." Damon told him.

* * *

I opened the box and found a locket. The locket had a white tulip on it and was a faded gold color, as though it was very old.

* * *

"Wear it for me, for... good luck." Stefan said to Elena, pulling out one of the necklace's he'd been holding on to.

* * *

"You want to kiss me." Damon told me. He leaned down close to my face and I smirked at him.

"I am no one's second choice." I backed away from him and walked away.

* * *

"Vervain in the necklace?" Damon asked him. "It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion."

"I gave all the vervain I had to Elena. I didn't have enough for Chloe." Stefan told him.

* * *

I smelt it but didn't recognize the scent so I took out the herb and put it in a small clear bottle on my vanity before putting on the necklace.

* * *

**There's nothing human left in Damon. No good, no kindness. No love. Only a monster who must be stopped.**

* * *

He noticed hair was covering some of her face and gently moved it out of the way before caressing her face.

* * *

Chloe woke up and heard a noise from downstairs. I crawled out of bed and made my way to the hallway. Elena came out of her room and joined me

"Hello? Jeremy? Jenna?" I called out to them. I saw a shadow downstairs and moved towards it. When I got to the kitchen I tried to turn the kitchen light on, but the power was out. Suddenly the TV turned on.

"This is Logan Fell coming to you live from the streets of Mystic Falls with breaking news of another deadly animal attack. The wild animal terrorizing the citizens of Mystic Falls has claimed two victims, local high school students Chloe and Elena Gilbert. Police are certain that forensic evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks." We heard him say.

"You know what's coming next." We turned and saw Damon looking at us. Elena turned and ran, grabbing my arm and pulling me with her. She opened the front door and saw him. Screaming she slammed it shut and ran upstairs while I stayed and looked around for him. I heard Elena scream and ran upstairs to her dead on her bed. I backed away and bumped into something hard. I turned and saw Damon who smirked at me. He bit into my neck draining me dry as I screamed.

Stefan shot up in bed and looked around to see Damon sitting at the desk in his room.

"Bad dream? Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood. It might even the playing field. Football reference. Too soon." Damon said. Stefan ran to a knife and threw it at Damon, hitting him in the stomach. Damon looked down at it and pulled it out. "All right, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing coach Tanner and all those people."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked him.

"It was a mountain lion. Really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning. It's all over the news. "Deadly beast captured. All's well in Mystic Falls."" Damon told him.

"Why would you cover your tracks?" Stefan asked him, getting worried.

"I've decided to stay a while. And I'm just having way too much fun here with you, Chloe and Elena." Damon said.

"Can't touch them now." Stefan said, thinking of the necklaces the girls now had.

"Well, I don't want Elena and the vervain keeps me out of Chloe's head. Maybe that's not my target." Damon said smirking at his baby brother. "Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style and my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift. I was close to kissing Chloe at that little dinner party she and Elena held when Elena butted in." Damon then stabbed Stefan in the stomach. It clearly hurt Stefan more than it did Damon, because Stefan fell to the floor. "This is John Varvatos, dude. Dick move." Damon said after inspecting his shirt and leaving the room. Stefan removed the knife before lifting his shirt and watching his injury heal.

* * *

"I can confirm that a 12-Foot puma mountain lion attacked a hunter and was subsequently shot and killed. The hunter is in stable condition." Stefan saw Sherriff Forbes saw on a news station.

**The real animal is still out there, waiting for me, challenging me to fight back, to stop him. But how do I stop a monster without becoming one myself?**

* * *

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught." I came down the stairs with Elena at my back to see Jenna staring at the TV.

"Scum ball. Scum bucket." Jenna listed and I gave her a curious look.

"Who are you talking to?" Elena asked her.

"Him." she told us motioning to the TV.

"The news guy?" Elena asked her.

"Also known as Logan "Scum" Fell." She told us.

"I like that one. It's a keeper." I told her smiling.

"Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?" Jenna asked us.

"Oh, no way. You and him?" Elena laughed. "He's cute." She said before sitting down at the table.

"He is not cute. There's nothing cute about him." Jenna corrected, turning off the TV. "What are you two doing with that?" she asked us as we went through a box.

"I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display." Elena told her. Jenna reached into the box and pulled out a ring.

"Is that grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked her.

"Originally it was great-great-grandma Mary's wedding ring." Elena told her, taking the ring from her as Jeremy walked into the kitchen.

"How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like on eBay?" he asked us.

"You're not gonna find out." I told him, taking the watch he'd picked up from him before cleaning it.

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away." Jeremy told us.

"We're not giving it away. It's called a loan, Jeremy. She'll give all this stuff back." I tried assuring him as the doorbell rang. Elena went to answer it and when she opened the door I saw Stefan and rolled my eyes. It seemed as if those two were joined at the hip.

"Hi." Stefan greeted her. Elena drug him into the house, looking behind her to make sure no one was watching, before kissing him passionately.

"Hi." She greeted him. She pulled him to her room and they started making out. He removed his shoes and they dropped on to her bed. HE rolled her over so he was on top of her when he looked up into her mirror and saw his face had started to transform. He quickly sat up and put his back to her. She stared up at her ceiling and sighed lightly. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I'm good. Sorry." He told her.

"Maybe we should press pause." She suggested sitting up slightly.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He said. Once he'd gained control of his features he turned to her with a smile. "That was getting a bit..."

"Yeah." She agreed.

"Yeah." He said getting up and sitting on her window seat and put his shoes back on.

"How do you look in a suit?" she asked him and he smiled at her question.

"I can pull one off." He told her.

"How about tomorrow night? Will you be my date to the Founder's party?" she asked him.

"They still do that?" he asked her, thinking of the last one he'd gone to.

"Have you been before?" she asked him confused.

"No, the Salvatores don't get invited anymore." He told her.

"Well, this year, there's this heritage project that meant a lot to my mom. She was really involved in the founder's council, and it was her favorite party. I know it sounds really boring, but—" Elena explained to him.

"I would be honored to accompany you, Miss Gilbert." He told her with a smile.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Salvatore." She said returning his smile. Neither were aware of the brunette standing outside Elena's door. The brunette walked away back downstairs to continue their work.

* * *

At the Forbes house in Caroline's bedroom, Caroline was trying on a yellow dress while Damon laid on her bed reading a book.

"No yellow. Jaundice. Go for the blue." Damon told her.

"I don't like the blue." She told him.

"Well, I do. And if I'm gonna be your date—" he started saying but she stopped him.

"You cannot be my date. My mother is going to be there, and she is a very proud gun owner." She told him.

"I went through a lot of trouble to make sure this party wasn't cancelled. It's very important I be there. Please take me." He compeled her and she stared at him for a moment before smiling at him.

"You should come to the founder's party with me." She told him.

"Not if you're wearing that dress." He told her before going back to the book he was reading. She stripped off the yellow dress and moved to her closet to pull out her blue dress. "What's so special about this Bella girl? Edward's so whipped."

"You gotta read the first book first. It won't make sense if you don't." she told him smiling.

"Ah, I miss Anne Rice. She was so on it." Damon said to himself.

"How come you don't sparkle?" she asked him as she pulled the light blue strapless dress up her body.

"Because I live in the real world, where vampires burn in the sun." he told her annoyed.

"Yeah, but you go in the sun." she said.

"I have a ring. It protects me. Long story." He told her, showing her his ring with the Salvatore family crest on it.

"Will these bites turn me into a vampire?" Caroline asked him, tracing one of the bites on her shoulder.

"It's more complicated than that. You'd have to feed on my blood, then die, then feed on a human's, it's a whole ordeal. This book, by the way has it all wrong." Damon told her. He closed the book and tossed it away and grabbed her around her waist and pulled her to the bed kissing her neck.

"You can be very sweet when you want to be." She told him laughing.

"Yes, I can be sweet." He told her. The smile faded from her face as she stared up at him.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked him.

"Mm-Hmm." He confirmed with a smile. "But not yet."

"Why not?" she asked him.

"Because there's something I need you to do for me." He told her.

"Anything." She said with a smile on her face.

"How good are you at getting this little nose where it doesn't belong?" he asked her, poking her nose.

"Oh, I'm excellent." She told him with a smile.

"Mmm." He said. His plan was going to go perfectly with this little doll.

* * *

The Lockwood's were sitting at the Grill together having a family dinner.

"So what happens with the season? One big forfeit? Are they looking for a new coach?" Mayor Charles Lockwood asked his son, Tyler.

"I don't know, dad. I doubt anybody's thinking about that right now." Tyler told him.

"Charles, founder's party, focus." Carol Lockwood told her husband.

"How are y'all doing over here?" Vicki asked them coming to wait on their table.

"Ah, we're doing great, sweetheart." Mayor Lockwood told her. She looked at Tyler, wanting him to introduce her to his parents or at least acknowledge her. She grabbed Tyler's drink and refilled it.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" she asked him rudely.

"We're fine, thanks." Tyler told her, trying to get her to leave them alone.

"Just the check, honey." Mayor Lockwood told her with a smile.

"Here you go, Mayor Lockwood." She told him, smiling as she handed him the check.

"Thanks." He said before she walked away. In another part of the Grill, Caroline and Bonnie walked in and sat at a table.

"You're taking Damon to the founder's party? What about me?" Bonnie asked her. They were going to go together and Elena was going to go with Stefan.

"Go with Elena or Chloe." Caroline told her.

"Elena's asking Stefan and Chloe is going solo this year." Bonnie explained to her.

"Okay, go by yourself." Caroline told her.

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie said sarcastically. "What about your mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

"And I'm supposed to care why?" Caroline asked her. Caroline had always done things that her mother would never approve of since her dad had left them.

"He's older sexy danger guy." Bonnie reminded her.

"Older sexy danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?" Caroline asked her mockingly.

"No more witch jokes, okay? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has me freaked." Bonnie told her. She was scared and only told her three friends about it.

"Okay. And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major, deep-Rooted drama." Caroline told her.

"Like...?" Bonnie asked her, knowing Caroline would tell her.

"I'm not really supposed to say anything." Caroline told her and Bonnie gave her a disbelieving look.

"Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?" Bonnie asked her.

"Okay. But you can't tell Elena." Caroline told her.

"No." Bonnie agreed.

* * *

"So what you gonna buy me?" Tyler asked once his parents had gone to Vicki, turning on his charm.

"Ugh, some class. Oh, your parents are gone. I guess we can be close now." She said angrily going behind the bar.

"What the hell does that mean?" Tyler asked her confused.

"You treat me like trash. I'm sick of it." She told him.

"I don't think you're trash." He told her. He wasn't lying to her, but he also didn't care about her like he had her.

"Really? Then who are you taking to the founder's party?" She asked him and he smirked at her, getting an idea.

"Vicki Donovan. Do you want me to ask you to the founder's party?" he asked her and she smiled at him.

"No. It'll be stupid and lame." She said.

"True. But it'll be less stupid and lame if you were there." He told her. She nodded to him and he left. His plan was going to try and use her to get Chloe jealous and get her back where she belonged, with him.

"You realize you had to ask him to ask you, right? You figure if you dress up like a respectable young lady, he'll finally treat you like one?" Jeremy asked Vicki and she glared at him.

"Screw you, Jeremy." She told him.

"You know you're making the wrong choice, yet you make it anyway. It's sad." He said to her. She grew angry at his words, knowing they were true. She stormed away from him and finished her shift before she was to go home and get ready for the party.

* * *

Zach walked into the foyer of the Boarding house and paused in fear at seeing Damon reading something.

"I didn't know you were here." He said to his older vampire uncle.

"Just going through Stefan's homework. Boy, this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why he wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean, in the seventies, he went Ivy League. Harvard, I understood. Actually, no. I didn't get that either. Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?" Damon asked him.

"Why are you here, Damon?" Zach asked him.

"To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important." Damon said sarcastically.

"I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?" Zach demanded. Damon got up and moved to Zach using his vampire speed and grabbed him by the throat.

"You are in no position to question me." Damon reminded him.

"I didn't mean to upset you." Zach said strained.

"This is not upset, Zach." Damon told him, squeezing his hand around Zach's throat.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked from behind his brother. Damon smirked and dropped Zach turning to Stefan.

"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time." Damon told him before leaving the room.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asked him, going to him.

"No, I'm not. And neither are you. How many more people have to die before you see that?" Zach asked him sitting on the small step into the room.

"I see it. All right, Zach, I see it." Stefan told him.

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Zach asked him angrily.

"I can't, Zach. I can't. It would take human blood. It's the only way that I could stop him, and I can't do that." Stefan reminded him.

"Vervain could weaken him if he ingested it. It would help get you the upper hand." Zach said, remembering his lessons from his father.

"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865. Damon saw to that. The little I had, I gave to Elena." Stefan told him. Zach made a face. "What?" Zack didn't say anything as both he and Stefan walked down to the cellar. Zach opened the door and showed Stefan the stash of vervain he had.

"You've been growing it." Stefan stated.

"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires. Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it." Zach reminded him.

"But you're telling me. Why?" Stefan asked turning to him.

"Because I trust you. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him." Zack said honestly.

* * *

After Stefan left Elena joined us in the kitchen not long before the doorbell rang again. Jeremy went to go and see who it was.

"We certainly are popular today, aren't we?" I asked getting up and going to see who was at the door. I watched Jeremy try and close the door but Tyler held it open.

"I'm here for my mom. I was supposed to pick up a box of stuff." Tyler said. I grabbed the box from Elena and walked to the door.

"Right here. Please be careful." I told him with a smile.

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick." Jeremy told him rudely.

"Hey! Not today, okay, guys? Please?" I asked them, giving them both looks.

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler told me.

"I got your punk." Jeremy told him.

"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go. Tell your mom that I'll see her tonight." I told him, trying to get him to leave.

"Yeah, okay." He said to me. I nodded to them and walked away before Elena grabbed me and pulled me to her room where Bonnie was with her getting ready for the party. Jeremy started to walk away shortly after.

"Hey. Would it make a difference if I told you I actually like Vicki?" Tyler asked him.

"Not even if you meant it." Jeremy told him, closing the door behind him.

"Delicate flower vs. Naughty vixen." Bonnie asked as we walked into her room.

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Elena asked her.

"I say Naughty vixen." I told her and she laughed.

"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date. You seem happy-Ish." Bonnie said smiling at Elena.

"I am... ish. Tonight's going to be a good night." Elena said sitting down next to Bonnie. "But don't let that stop you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you walked in the door."

"What if I tell you in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night." Bonnie told her.

"Bonnie, out with it." Elena and I ordered her.

"Okay, but it has to go in the vault, because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed. Apparently Stefan has a very interesting back story." Bonnie said catching our interest.

"Uh-Huh." Elena urged her to continue.

"Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend Katherine?" Bonnie asked her and she shook her head.

"I know that both dated her and her sister and they both have issues with each other." I told her.

"Yeah, they both the sisters, and while Anna chose Damon, Katherine chose one of Stefan's friends. And that drove him mad, so he did horrible things to try and break not only them up but also Anna and Damon.. He manipulated Anna and Katherine. He filled their heads with all these lies until finally it worked, and they turned against Damon and Stefan's friend." Bonnie told us and I thought about the two brothers, the personalities I'd noticed between them.

"That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's." Elena said, not wanting to believe her.

"Stefan's not the manipulative type." I told her. "At least not like that."

"I just wanted you to know." Bonnie told her.

"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business." Elena told her and I gave her a look.

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business." Bonnie said.

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena insisted.

"Yeah? How do you know?" Bonnie asked her, but she came up with no reply.

* * *

"Do they still wear ties at this thing?" Damon asked his brother, walking into his room.

"Why are you even going?" Stefan asked him.

"It's only fitting. We were at the very first one, remember?" Damon asked him.

"I think it's better if we don't draw attention to ourselves." Stefan reminded him.

"So you should stay here. I'll see to it Chloe and Elena have a good time." Damon told him with a smirk before watching him in the mirror. He watched his brother take a glass filled with scotch and drink it. "My goodness, I've driven you to drink."

"Can't seem to rid myself of you. What else am I supposed to do, besides go about living my life?" Stefan asked him.

"Go about living my life." Damon repeated. "See, therein lies your eternal struggle. You're dead, dude. Get over it. What do you think?" Damon asked showing his brother his suit.

* * *

Elena, Bonnie and I were in going between our rooms getting ready for the party when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw Carol Lockwood's name.

"Hello?" I answered the phone, drawing Elena and Bonnie's attention.

"Hi, Chloe. It's Carol." She told me even though I knew.

"Hi, Carol." I said.

"There's a small problem with one of the pieces in your families collection. According to the list your mother provided an old pocket watch was supposed to be included but it's missing." She told me.

"What do you mean? It is?" I asked her. "Are you sure? 'Cause I saw it." I told her before I remembered something.

"Let me check here at the house."

"Are you sure?" she asked me. "I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything."

"Mm-Hmm. I will find it and bring it." I told her.

"Thank you so much sweetie." She said and I could hear the smile on her face.

"Ok. Bye." I hung up the phone and got up before angrily walking to Jeremy's room.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked me. I walked inside Jer's room and slapped the back of his head with Elena behind me.

"Ahh! God, what now?" Jeremy asked us.

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" I asked him.

"What watch?" He asked looking back at his computer.

"The one you stole from mom's box. Look, Carol Lockwood just called me, freaking out. It was on the list, Jeremy. And she can't find it, and she thinks she's the one who lost it." I explained to him.

"Maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it." Jeremy suggested sarcastically.

"Don't even play that card with me, Jeremy Gilbert. I know you took it from the table when we were distracted." I told him.

"If we go online, are we going to find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?" Elena asked rudely.

"Screw you." Jeremy told her. He got up from his computer and got something before slamming the pocket watch in my hand. "I would never sell this, ok?"

"Then why did you take it?" Elena asked him.

"Because it's supposed to be mine. Dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him, and now what?" Jeremy asked us and I sighed in understanding.

"And he was going to give it to you." We said together.

"Yeah." He said sitting back down at his computer.

"Look, Jeremy, it's still yours, okay? Mom promised Mrs Lockwood. What do you want us to do?" Elena asked him.

"Just take it and get out." Jeremy told us. Elena and I shared a look before leaving his room to get ready.

* * *

"It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud." Damon said fixing his shirt.

"Yes, being a 150-Year-Old teenager has been the height of my happiness." Stefan told him.

"You cracked a funny, Stefan. I should have a drink to celebrate." Damon said moving to the drink in Stefan's room before looking at the two pictures of Anna and Katherine. "1864. You and Katherine were the perfect couple next to George and Anna. It was hell watching him dance with her."

"Both my own and George's happiness were short-lived, as you well know." Stefan told him. "If I remember correctly you and Anna got together soon after.

"I remember." Damon said with a smirk. "I left the party early, I was waiting for Anna. The night he dropped her off, I was waiting just inside. He was such a gentleman, gave her a kiss on the cheek. And what she really wanted was... Oh, well. Here's to history repeating itself, huh?" Damon smelt the drink and discovered something off. He was about to take a drink when he dumped it on the floor. "I admire your effort, Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with vervain. I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me. But I can't help but feel a little used. I thought we were having a moment. I have to go to the party angry. Who knows what I'll do?" Damon said before walking out of his brother's room.

* * *

At the Founder's Party at the Lockwood Mansion the Lockwood family was greeting everyone dressed in their best. Tyler looked at the long line and saw Vicki in a yellow dress smiling brightly. He quickly left the side of his parents and walked to her, unaware of his mother's eyes on him.

"Uh, let's go this way." Tyler told Vicki, dragging her out of line.

"Why?" she asked him following him before glancing at his parents.

"Line's too long. We can go around back. Come on, party's in the back." He said dragging her away with her mother watching.

* * *

Stefan was walking towards the door to go and pick up Elena for the party when Zach stopped him.

"That was his favorite scotch. I'm sorry, I thought it would work." Zach told Stefan.

"I wasn't counting on it." Stefan told him.

"You knew it would fail?" Zach asked him shocked.

"Did what I wanted. It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon." Stefan explained to him.

"I doubled what I put in the scotch." Zach said handing him a vial of liquid vervain.

* * *

I stood in front of my mirror staring at my reflection. My aqua blue strapless dress hugged my body and my blue strappy heels. My hair fell over my shoulders in loose curls and I sighed. We shouldn't have taken the pocket watch away from Jeremy. I turned to my doorway and saw Elena in her dress and holding the packet watch in her hand. We walked to Jeremy's room and she placed the pocket watch on his desk before both walking away.

* * *

At the Lockwood Mansion, Caroline and Damon were at the door when Carol turned to them.

"Caroline! You look smashing." Carol told her with a smile.

"Thank you, Mrs Lockwood. This is my boyfriend Damon." Caroline said looking back at Damon.

"Oh, well, come on in." Carol said to him with a smile.

"Lovely to meet you. I've been looking forward to this party for quite a while." Damon told her, turning on his charm.

"Well, enjoy." She said before walking away.

"Let's get a drink." Damon told Caroline. As they were about to walk away from the door, Caroline turned and saw her mother staring at her and Damon.

"Wait here." Caroline told him. She went and stood next to her mother. "Really, you couldn't even change out of the badge for this?"

"I'm working, honey. Who's the date you just tried to sneak past me?" Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes, Liz to those who she was close to, asked her daughter.

"Just some guy." Caroline told her.

"He's a little old for you, don't you think?" Liz asked her.

"Oh, 'cause otherwise you'd approve. Yeah, I doubt that." Caroline said. At the door, Elena and Stefan arrived arm in arm and Mayor Lockwood turned and smiled at them.

"Hi, Mayor Lockwood." Elena said with a smile.

"Hey. Hey, guys, come on in." he told them and they walked in.

"Thank you." Stefan said and they walked to another part of the house.

"Where's your dad?" Liz asked Caroline.

"Memphis." Caroline said as she started to walk away.

"Good." Liz said.

"With Steven." Caroline tossed back at her, knowing how her mother felt about her gay ex-husband's boyfriend. I walked into the mansion and someone called me over to them. I turned and saw a classmate/ex-boyfriend. He gave me and hug and a kiss on the cheek and I smiled at him. We were both unaware of Damon watching us looking slightly jealous as I smiled at him before walking away.

* * *

Elena and I were in the foyer looking down at the wedding rings our parents had worn until the day they died. Stefan came up behind us and looked down at them before looking at us.

"Your parents?" he asked us.

"Yes." I answered.

"There's a lot of history here." Was all Elena told him before they moved onto another section of the room. I put my hand on the bracelet my mom and given me for my 17th birthday. She and I would spend a portion of the night polishing it in water mixed with some herbs before putting it back on. She told me that one day it might be my greatest defense, but I never understood what she meant.

* * *

As Jenna walked by one of the butlers she grabbed a glass of wine and continued walking, bored.

"Jenna." She sighed and turned to see her Ex, Logan Fell from another of the Founding Families.

"Hello Logan." She greeted, with anger lining her voice.

"It's good to see you." He said with a smile.

"I thought I might see you here." She told him.

"You knew it." He corrected.

"I dreaded." She countered.

"But were secretly hoping." He said.

"And now that I have..." she said turning away from him.

"Whoa, hey, not so fast. I know you. You have a lot more insults in you, I can tell." He said to her. She took a breath and looked him over.

"Your hairline's receding." She lied.

"No, it's not. You want to have lunch?" he asked her.

"Nope." She declined.

"You haven't changed a bit." He told her with a smile.

"Oh, yes, I have. I'm meaner now." She told him before walking away. He watched her go with a smile on his face.

* * *

Elena and Stefan were looking at the artifacts in one of the rooms.

""The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration."" Stefan looked at her in slight alarm as I walked up to them and looked over her shoulder. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood."

"It looks like much hasn't changed since then except names and technology." I said with a smile before something caught my eye. "Is that Damon Salvatore?"

"And, Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked and we turned to Stefan for an answer.

"The original Salvatore brothers." We turned to see Damon and Caroline walking up to us. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan told him, trying to make him stop talking.

"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena told him with a smile and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me." Caroline told us.

"Mm-Mmm." Damon agreed shaking his head.

"Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked Elena.

"Oh, uh..." Elena was stumped on what to say. She wasn't expecting Caroline to try and take Stefan from her when she had Damon.

"I don't really dance." Stefan told Caroline.

"Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all." Damon said with a smirk

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked her.

"It's up to Stefan." Elena said, drawing the attention away from her.

"Well sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer." She said taking his hand and dragging him out to the dance floor. Elena walked away and watched her boyfriend and friend dance leaving me alone with Damon.

"I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm... Acting out, trying to ruin all my relationships, especially the one with my brother." Damon told me.

"Why?" I asked him.

"It's all in the past. I don't even want to bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers." He told me pointing back at the original registry.

* * *

On the dance floor Stefan and Caroline were dancing together slowly.

"Damon told you to ask me to dance. Didn't he?" Stefan asked her.

"Now why would he do that?" she asked him.

"Would you like one?" Stefan asked grabbing two glasses of champagne for himself and Caroline. "Thank you."

"Okay, just tell me if you see my mom." She said taking a drink. She looked around for her mom not noticing he didn't take a drink from his glass.

* * *

"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town." Damon told me as we walked around the room. "Until the war. There was a battle here—"

"The battle of willow creek." I said.

"Right." He confirmed with a smile.

"I know, we talked about it in class. Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside." I remembered.

"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had people they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood." Damon told me.

"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" I asked him.

"Women, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Why are you telling me this story?" I asked him.

"I felt like I had to explain myself to you." He told me.

"Well, thank you for the explanation." I said trying to move away from him, but he stopped me.

"It's my way of apologizing to you." He told me and I gave a small look.

"Without actually apologizing or giving a reason as to why you tried to kiss me?" I asked him. "It helps if you don't put a secret meaning behind your words."

"I'm sorry." He told me and I waited for him to continue. "You were right, you're no one's second choice." He kissed my cheek before smiling down at me. I smiled up at him lightly.

"That's better." I told him.

* * *

Outside in the backyard Vicki and Tyler were sitting on a bench, away from the party.

"So you want to dance?" Vicki asked him.

"Me dancing? Not pretty." Tyler told her. He had seen Chloe earlier with Damon laughing.

"Maybe you could show me around. I mean, this place is amazing." Vicki said looking around.

"Yeah, if you like living in a museum." He corrected her. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Maybe I should just strip naked and give Pastor Bill a lap dance. I mean, that's why we're hiding in a corner all night, isn't it? You're scared of how I'm going to act? You afraid of what your parents are going to think about your date from the wrong side of the tracks?" Vicki asked him angrily.

"I don't care about what they think." He told her.

"Great. Let's go say hi." She said grabbing his hand and forcing him to stand up.

"Knock it off, Vick." He told her.

"Or we could just, you know, sneak up to your bedroom. As long as nobody sees us, right?" she asked him.

"Vicki, I swear..." he started saying to her but she wouldn't listen.

"What's a matter, Ty? You scared to stand up to your mommy? It's pretty pathetic." She said trying to drag him with her.

"Let go!" he told her.

"Tyler..." they both turned to see his mother walking to them. "We didn't get a chance to say hello earlier. It's Vicki, right? Matt's sister."

"Yes, ma'am." She said with a smile.

"You'll have to forgive my son's rudeness. He gets it from his father." Carol told her.

"Well, that's okay, Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler and I were just saying good night." She said before walking away from mother and son. They both watched her walk away for a moment before Carol leaned closer to Tyler.

"That's what you get when you bring the trash into the party. You should have invited Chloe Gilbert to come with you." She told him before walking away from her son. He turned and watched as Vicki walked away from him and the party, realizing he should have given her a real chance and treated her better.

* * *

Bonnie was sitting at a table alone and watched as a candle went out. She looked at it and focused on it until she watched it re-ignite. Bonnie quickly blew it out, staring at it.

* * *

Damon and I went out to meet Stefan, Elena and Caroline who were all talking together.

"What'd we miss?" Damon asked going to stand next to Caroline.

"We were just chatting. Drink, Damon?" Stefan offered to his brother. I watched the looks on their faces with interest and confusion.

"No, thanks, I'll pass." Damon told him, and it was silent for a moment. I nudged Elena and motioned to her boyfriend and she smiled.

"Stefan, do you have another dance in you?" Elena asked him with a smile as I saw Tyler walk in the house. I moved away from the small group to him.

"Absolutely." I heard Stefan say to her as I got to Tyler.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him, taking in the look on his face.

"What do you care?" he asked me.

"We might have broken up, but I still worry about you." I told him, placing my hand on his arm.

"You wanna dance?" he asked me and I offered him a small smile and a nod. He had never been a person who wanted to dance at these things, so when he offered I took it. He pulled me into him and we danced.

"They look so cute together." Caroline said watching the two couples dance.

"Don't talk, please." Damon told her watching me dance with Tyler.

* * *

Logan walked up to the bat where Jenna was sitting at with him empty glass.

"Don't shoot! Only need a refill." He told her with a smile on his face.

"Shooting implies caring." She told him.

"Feigned indifference. I like it." He told her.

"I'm over the banter, Logan. I'd really rather you just left me alone." She said walking away.

"I'm sorry, Jenna. About your sister." He told her honestly.

"Thank you." She said after a moment.

"I came to the funeral." He told her.

"I know. I saw you." She told him.

"Yeah, I didn't want to push my way in, but I wanted to be there for you. And when I heard you were staying in Mystic Falls, I thought maybe... Well, maybe I could have a second chance to make things right." He said.

"Her name was Monica, wasn't it?" Jenna asked before walking away from him.

* * *

On the dance floor the two couples were still happily dancing.

"I hope Damon didn't drive you too crazy." Stefan told Elena.

"No, actually, I left him and Chloe alone." She told him. He turned and watched Chloe and Tyler dance for a moment before looking at Damon and watched his look of jealously.

"Hmm." Was all he said.

"So tell me about Katherine. What happened?" Elena asked him.

"It's not something I like to talk about." Stefan told her.

"I get that. I do. I just want you to know that you can. I mean, I burden you with all of my drama, and I want you to do the same." She told him.

"I know. Thank you." He said.

"The truth is, Stefan... I don't really know that much about you, and I'd really love it if you would open up to me." She told him and they stopped dancing.

"Damon said something to you and Chloe, didn't he? He likes to play games and cause trouble, Elena." Stefan warned her.

"This isn't about Damon or Chloe. It's about me trying to get to know you. Look, you're the mystery guy, and I like that. But with mystery comes secrets, and this thing with Katherine." She tried to tell him.

"Let it go. I don't want to talk about it." He told her.

"Well, then, say something about yourself. Anything. Otherwise, I'm left with nothing but what other people tell me." She said.

"Don't you see what Damon has done here? He's trying to get you to turn against me." Stefan warned her, not knowing she really hadn't talked to him.

"I didn't even talk to him Stefan. If his plan was to get between us, then I guess it's working. You know, he's been pretty focused on Chloe maybe you should ask her what he said to make her smile. A smile I haven't seen in a long time." She said before walking away. Stefan looked at Damon then watched Chloe and Tyler dance

* * *

"So what happened to you?" I asked Tyler as we danced.

"Something between my mom and Vicki." He told me. I gave him a look wanting more information about it. "My mom walked on me and Vicki having a fight."

"About?" I asked.

"She thinks I was ashamed of her for not being one of the founding families and being a druggie." He told me and I nodded.

"Are you?" I asked him.

"To be honest, I thought being with her would make you jealous. I thought I might get you back." He told me.

"Why would you dating Vicki make me want to date you again?" I asked him. "You cheated on me with her."

"I wasn't thinking clearly, I just wanted to be with you again." He told me. I shook my head at him and stopped our dancing.

"I'm sorry, Tyler. We will never get back together." I told him before walking away from him.

* * *

Bonnie and Elena sat at a bench inside the house eating ice cream together, talking about what had happened on the dance floor between Stefan and Elena.

"This is my fault. I planted doubt. I'm a doubt planter." Bonnie said to her.

"It's not your fault. I just—I feel terrible because I said that I wouldn't get in the middle of it, and then that's exactly what I did. I got all snotty." Elena told her as I sat down next to her.

"You aren't the only with issues today Elena." I told her. Suddenly Carol sat next to me with a smile on her face.

"Chloe, honey, there you are. I notice the watch still isn't in the collection." She told me and I glanced at Elena before coming up with a lie with her silently.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood. we, um, we couldn't find it." Elena said and I almost rolled my eyes at her obvious lie.

"I guess it's still packed up in our parents' stuff somewhere." I told her with a smile. She looked between us and I could see she didn't believe us in her eyes.

"I see. Well, please let me know if you do find it." She told us.

"OK." Elena and I said together. She got up and walked away and I gave Elena a look before getting up and going to mingle with someone else.

* * *

In another part of the house, Damon walked upstairs with Caroline following him.

"Where have you been?" she asked him.

"Ah. Looking for you." He lied to her.

"Your brother barely danced with me for five minutes—" she told him.

"Okay, just a minute. Stand right... there." He said placing her in front of the door looking outward before he started searching through the collection.

"Um, you're not supposed to touch. What is that?" Caroline asked looking at an amber gem.

"A very important crystal." He told her, putting it in his pocket.

"Well, how did you know that it was there?" she asked him.

"Because I put it there." He told her.

"When?" she asked.

"A long time ago. Tonight, I'm taking it back, thanks to you." He told her, fixing what he messed up to get the crystal back.

"Well, what's it for?" Caroline asked him.

"Never you mind." Damon said.

"Well, you can't just steal it." She told him.

"It's not stealing if it's mine. Come on." He corrected, pulling her with him.

"Well..." she started saying before not saying anything.

* * *

"Vodka tonic." Logan said at the bar. He saw Jenna staring outside. He sighed before walking to her. "Okay, I know that this is probably going to be strike 3, but I hope you can see it for what it is."

"And what is it?" she asked him.

"Persistence. Groveling, commitment. Take your pick." He told her.

"I fled town because of you. Fled." She told him.

"I was young and stupid, and then things changed. Life got...real. You'd know that better than anyone." He told her. She thought about it for a moment.

"Hypothetically speaking, if allowed, how would you make things right?" she asked him.

"Well, more groveling, of course. A recap of the past few years spent soul searching. Cheese fries." He listed with a smile.

"Obvious." She said, smiling.

"I know my audience." He reminded her.

"Yes to lunch. Call me." She told him walking away.

* * *

In the darkened living room Carol was with one of the waiters and Bonnie was watching them talk in the corner.

"Look around. What's missing? The flames, the candles. Why aren't they lit? There's matches in the kitchen." She told him and they both walked out of the room.

"Bitch." Bonnie said under her breath. Bonnie walked to one of the candles and stared at it, focusing on it. She shook her head and turned away from it and started to leave, but turned to a previously unlit burning candle. She turned around and saw all the candles burning.

* * *

Elena and I walked into the powder room together and saw Caroline fixing herself up.

"Hey." We said to her.

"Hey. So how are things with Stefan?" Caroline asked Elena.

"Great. Just great." Elena lied.

"Really? Well, my radar must be off, 'cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes..." Caroline told her.

"You weren't wrong." I told her before noticing something on her neck. "What is that?"

"Hmm?" Caroline asked me. I tried to lift her scarf so Elena and I could see what was on her neck. "Don't!" I lifted her scarf up and saw a bad bite mark.

"Oh god, Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked her.

"Nothing, okay?!" she asked us and I quickly thought of what happened.

"That is not nothing! Did somebody hurt you?" I asked her.

"No, okay, nothing. It just... My mom would kill me." She said going back to fixing her makeup. I quickly pulled her shawl down and saw another bite mark on her back.

"Did Damon hurt you?" I asked angrily.

"No! Of course not! Just leave me alone. Okay, Chloe?! Elena?!" she asked us before quickly leaving the room.

"Tell Stefan what we just saw." I told her heading to the door.

"What are you doing to do?" she asked me and I turned to her, showing her how angry I really was.

"Do you really have to ask me that?" I asked her before storming out of the room and looking for Damon. When I saw him I immediately walked to him which caused him to smile before I pushed him, forcing him down a step so he had to look up at me. "There is something seriously wrong with you." I told him. "You stay away from Caroline or you'll be dealing with me. You got it? Stay away from her or I'll make your life a living hell." I told him before walking away. He thought about what could have cause my outburst about Caroline when we had been getting along earlier. He listed the reasons in his head and only thought about one reason and he grew angry. He didn't want to miss his chance with her before he left.

* * *

"I'm sorry. I take it all back. You're completely right about Damon." Elena said walking up to Stefan on the lawn.

"What did he do?" Stefan asked her.

"There are bruises all over Caroline's body. Bite marks, and he has her all confused and messed up in the head. You don't look surprised." Elena said to him.

"Um... I'm handling it." Stefan told her.

"Handling it? Stefan, you should be having him arrested." Elena told him.

"Elena, please. I... I don't expect you to understand." Stefan told her.

"I don't understand anything, Stefan. So why don't you just clear it up for me?" Elena asked him.

"Look, there are things that you don't know, okay? Things that I want to tell you, but I can't. And I may never be able to. And I just need you to trust me." He begged her.

"Trust is earned. I can't just magically hand it over." She told him. Behind her he saw Damon dragging Caroling out into the yard.

"I'm so sorry. I have to go." He told her.

* * *

The doorbell rang at the Gilbert house and Jeremy answered the door to see Vicki.

"You look amazing. What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I was thinking maybe I could make one more wrong choice today. I still have 17 minutes." She told him before kissing him.

* * *

At the Founder's Party, Damon drug Caroline out to the lawn. He sharply turned her so she was facing him.

"Don't! She took it off and I got flustered, okay?! I didn't know what to say. But I swear, okay? I did not tell them. I just told them that you didn't mean to hurt me." Caroline told him. Damon sighed and went behind Caroline, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You make me crazy, you know that? It's okay. I forgive you." He told her.

"I swear I didn't say—" she tried telling him again.

"Shh, shh, shh. It's okay. Unfortunately... I am so over you now." He told her before biting her and drinking. Suddenly they both fell to the ground. "What the hell?" Damon asked lying next to Caroline who was unconscious.

"You know, I couldn't spike your drink... So I spiked hers." Stefan told Damon as he walked up to him. Stefan checked Caroline before grabbing his brother and leaving.

* * *

I walked outside looking for Caroline. I was worried about her after seeing all those bites on her. I saw her sit up on the lawn and grab something before standing up. I immediately walked to her and put my hand on her shoulder so I didn't frighten her.

"Caroline? I've been looking everywhere for you. Are you okay?" I asked her, looking her over for any recent injuries.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She told me, but the way she said it made me think she was lying.

"Caroline, what happened?" I asked her.

"I'm fine." She repeated, shaking and holding her hand to her neck where I saw blood.

"No. You're shaking. Caroline, what happened to you?" I asked her again.

"I'm fine!" she repeated before she started to cry.

"Caroline, come here hunny." I told her. I held her as she cried into my shoulder.

* * *

Zach and Stefan locked a weakened Damon in the cellar next to where the vervain was.

**I did what I had to do... To protect Elena, to protect everyone. Yes, Damon, the headline reads "Deadly beast captured. All is well in Mystic Falls."**

* * *

"Thank you for staying so late." Mayor Lockwood said to the small group still in his house after the party.

"Did you get the Gilbert watch?" Sheriff Forbes asked.

"They claim it's packed away in their parents' things." Carol said to them.

"I can get it." Logan said next to her.

"Good. We're going to need it." Sheriff Forbes informed them.

"Are you sure?" Carol asked her.

"5 bodies all drained of blood? I'm certain." Sheriff Forbes confirmed.

"They've come back." Logan agreed.


	5. You're Undead to Me

Previously on The Bad Twin:

_I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her._

* * *

"How come you don't sparkle?" Caroline asked Damon as she pulled the light blue strapless dress up her body.

"Because I live in the real world, where vampires burn in the sun." he told her annoyed.

"Yeah, but you go in the sun." she said.

"I have a ring. It protects me." He told her, showing her the ring.

* * *

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" I asked Jeremy.

"It's supposed to be mine." He told us.

* * *

"Did you get the Gilbert watch?" Sheriff Forbes asked.

"I can get it." Logan said next to her.

"We're going to need it." Sheriff Forbes informed them.

* * *

"What is that?" Caroline asked looking at an amber gem.

"A very important crystal." Damon told her, putting it in his pocket.

* * *

"You're the mystery guy, and I like that. But with mystery comes secrets." Elena said to Stefan.

"I just need you to trust me." He begged her.

"Trust is earned." She said before walking away from him.

* * *

"You were right, you're no one's second choice." He kissed my cheek before smiling down at me. I smiled up at him lightly.

* * *

"Don't!" I lifted her scarf up and saw a bad bite mark.

"Oh god, Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked her.

"Did Damon hurt you?" I asked angrily.

* * *

"There are bruises all over Caroline's body." Elena told Stefan.

"I'm handling it." Stefan told her.

* * *

"Vervain could weaken him if he ingested it. It would help get you the upper hand." Zach said, remembering his lessons from his father.

* * *

"You stay away from Caroline or you'll be dealing with me. You got it? Stay away from her or I'll make your life a living hell." I told Damon before walking away.

* * *

Damon bit Caroline and drank from her. Suddenly, they both fell to the ground.

"You know, I couldn't spike your drink... So I spiked hers." Stefan told Damon as he walked up to him.

* * *

Caroline took a drink of the champagne flute Stefan had given her.

* * *

Zach and Stefan locked a weakened Damon in the cellar next to where the vervain was.

* * *

"5 bodies all drained of blood?" Sheriff Forbes confirmed.

"They've come back." Logan agreed.

* * *

"Where is my ring?" Damon asked weakly, lying on the ground in the cellar.

"Won't be needing it anymore." Stefan informed him.

"How long have I been here?" Damon asked him.

"Three days." Stefan told him.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked him.

"During the dark ages when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or bring harm upon the entire race, they would face judgment. They sought to reeducate them rather than to punish them." Stefan told him.

"You know what will happen if I don't... Feed on blood." Damon reminded him, not liking the outlook of his fate.

"You'll grow weaker and weaker. Eventually you won't be able to move or speak. In a week your skin will desiccate, and you'll mummify. A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone. Ever." Stefan told him.

"So what, you're just going to leave me in the basement, forever?" Damon asked him.

"I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt, and then in 50 years, we can reevaluate." Stefan told him.

"I'm stronger than you think." Damon warned him.

"You always have been. But you're not stronger than the vervain. And we both know it. I'm sorry. Didn't have to be this way." Stefan told him before walking away from him.

* * *

I sat down stairs with Jenna thinking about how stupid I was. How could I have so stupid as to fall for Damon's tricks when they were the same tricks I've used before. I really was an idiot.

"Jenna! Chloe! Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?" Elena asked us walking to the two of us.

"Uh-huh." Jenna said as I nodded my head. I wore a black tank with a red blazer over it, black skinny jeans with black boots and a red purse.

"And you have no objection?" Elena asked us.

"He could be craftier about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out. Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner." Jenna said with a smile on her face.

"Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan Fell?" I asked her with a smirk on my face.

"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes. And have you heard from Stefan?" Jenna asked moving the conversation from her to Elena making me roll my eyes at her.

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago. "Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days."" Elena told us and I gave her a confused look at his words.

"Haven't you called him?" I asked her.

"Nope. Not going to either." She told me sternly.

"And you're ok with everything?" Jenna asked her. We knew the truth but Elena didn't need to know that.

"No, I'm not ok with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it, either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy." Elena told us harshly.

"Ok, then." Jenna said, shocked at her words and her tone.

"I'll be fine." Elena said walking away from us.

"She won't be fine until she talks to him." I told her before grabbing my things and going to school.

* * *

Stefan walked downstairs with his school supplies ready to all he had to do was leave instructions for Zach.

"He's awake. He's weak, but it's probably best to stay out of the basement. He's Damon. I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be." Stefan warned him.

"You're going to school?" Zack asked him.

"Came here to live a life. It's about time I get back to that. And Elena, if she's still speaking to me." Stefan said.

"Why haven't you called her?" Zack asked him.

"What am supposed to do, feed her another lie? I hate lying to her, Zach. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something." Stefan told him.

"What choice do you have? You came here because you wanted to live as normal a life as you could. You knew this was going to be a part of it." Zach reminded him before he left.

* * *

"I remember the party." Caroline said sitting at her vanity telling Bonnie what she remembered from the last time she saw Damon. "Damon came up behind me, and he was kissing my neck, or biting my neck. I passed out. It's like there's holes in my memory lately. It's just weird. Maybe I let him bite me." She said using her makeup to cover the bite marks on her skin.

"Why would you do that?" Bonnie asked her from the bed holding a candle.

"Can we just not talk about it, ok? Don't want to talk about Damon. I don't want to talk about any of it. Just want to go back to normal. What are you doing with that candle?" Caroline asked her.

"Um... Nothing. What's this?" Bonnie asked when she saw the crystal Damon had been trying to take from the party.

"Damon gave it to me. Or he was going to give it to me. All I know is, it's mine now." Caroline told her, getting up and walking to her.

"It's ugly." Bonnie told her.

"Well, get your grubby hands off it." Caroling said taking it away from her.

* * *

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fund raiser, for god's sake." Caroline said walking in the school with a small crowd behind her.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened." Elena said to Bonnie and I.

"She's in denial." Bonnie told us.

"It must some big denial." I told them.

"Hey." Stefan said as he walked up to us.

"Hey. You know, I gotta go. Be somewhere right now." Bonnie said walking away from the three of us.

"I'm so sorry I haven't called." Stefan told Elena.

"No worries. I'll live." She told him.

"I was dealing with Damon." He explained which caught my attention.

"And did you deal with Damon or does someone else need to?" I asked him.

"I dealt with him." he answered giving me a strange look.

"For four days?" Elena asked him.

"You have every right to be upset with me. But can I explain it all to you? Please." Stefan begged her. She looked at me and I nodded lightly to her.

"Sure. When?" she asked him.

"I gotta be home after school, but The Grill, around four o'clock?" Stefan asked her.

"Ok." She agreed.

"Thanks." He said with a relieved smile.

"Stefan," we all turned to see Caroline next to us. "Where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do."

"He's gone, Caroline." Stefan told her. The smile she was wearing faltered before coming back with more pep.

"When is he coming back?" she asked him.

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry." Stefan said before walking away from the three of us with Elena following him.

"This is a good thing, Care. This way he can't hurt you or anyone here anymore." I told her offering her a rare kind smile.

"I know that." She told me before going and talking to someone about the car wash. I sighed and shook my head before going to class.

* * *

At 4 Elena was waiting at the Mystic Grill for Stefan when she saw Matt playing pool solo.

"Hey, Matt, um, have you seen Stefan?" she asked him.

"Nope. If you want to kill some time, um, you can rack. Come on. We haven't played in forever. I'll let you break." Matt told her. She smiled at him and walked to him.

* * *

Zach cautiously went down to the cellar to watch Damon suffer slowly.

"I'm full of vervain. I've been putting it in my coffee for 16 years. My blood will only make you worse. Damon?" Zach called out.

"So it was your vervain. Good for you. Good for you. Family only runs so deep." Damon said to him.

"We're not family, Damon. Only in the most dysfunctional sense. In fact, I avoided having a living, breathing, loving family because of you." Zach told him.

"I don't guess I could talk you into bringing me a rabbit or something? I'd settle for Stefan's diet at this point." Damon begged.

"You know I can't do that." Zach told him.

"You succeeded, Zach. I'm shutting down. You're like your grandfather. He didn't like it when I came to visit, either." Damon said remembering the last time he'd seen Zach's grandfather.

"But you don't visit, Damon. You appear, unannounced, reminding me that this isn't my house; that you're just permitting me to live here. Hell, that you're permitting me to live." Zach reminded him.

"Someone had to mow the lawn." Damon replied sarcastically.

"I came to say good-bye, Damon." Zach told him. Damon rushed up to the door and grabbed Zach by the throat, trying to kill him or convince him to open the door.

"Unlock it. Unlock the door, Zach." Damon tried compelling. Stefan ran down the stairs just in time to wrestle Zach out of Damon's grasp.

"Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go." Stefan warned him.

* * *

"And there's Vicki, all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up." Elena vented to Matt what had happened that morning.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Your brother and my sister, that's weird. Not weirder than if your sister and I hooked up." Matt joked with her.

"Yeah." She said laughing. She checked her phone for the time before putting it back.

"How late is he?" Matt asked her.

"Hitting the hour mark." She told him as she saw her sister walk in the Grill. "Nothing's wrong though. Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you." Elena told him, shooting the cue ball.

"Good. I mean, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything. Hey, look it's Chloe. Chloe!" I turned and smiled at Marr and walked over to him and Elena.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" I asked them.

"Elena was about to tell us about her issues with Stefan." Matt said with a smile looking at Elena.

"Ok." She sighed. "Here goes- What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?" she asked us.

"Why? What's he done?" Matt asked her.

"Not any one thing. He's just so secretive all the time. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me want to know all the more." Elena told us.

"Everyone has secrets, Elena. It's part of being human." I told her.

"Like that he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" Matt asked making all of us laugh.

"No, of course not. But what do we know about him, really?" Elena asked.

"He's great at football. A little bit of a loner. And as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy." Matt told her.

"So you think I'm just being paranoid?" Elena asked.

"I think you should talk to him." Matt told her.

"I think you should trust him. He's a nice guy, Elena." I told her as Stefan walked up to us.

"Trust who?" he asked. "I'm so sorry that I'm late."

"What happened?" Elena asked him.

"I got held up." Stefan said.

"Is everything ok?" Elena asked.

"There was this thing with my uncle." Stefan told her.

"And you couldn't call and tell me that you were going to be an hour late?" Elena asked him.

"Ok. You two have fun." Matt said walking away.

"I'm really sorry. It was unavoidable." Stefan told her. I picked up a pool stick and began to pick up Elena and Matt's game while listening to them talk.

"What was unavoidable?" Elena asked Stefan. He didn't answer her and I saw her shake her head. "Ok."

"Oh, uh, Elena, please..." Stefan begged her as she walked away from him.

"No, Stefan, don't you get it? Every question gets a vague non-answer. What is so awful that you're afraid to tell me?" Elena asked him. Suddenly an old man walked up to Stefan and Elena.

"I know you. My God." The man said to Stefan.

"I'm sorry?" Stefan asked him.

"I know you. How can it be?" the old mas asked them.

"I think you have the wrong person, sir." Stefan insisted.

"You haven't aged a day." The man said to him. I watched Stefan's face fill with dread and realization.

"I'm sorry. Excuse me. Hey, can we- can I take you home and we can talk about it? Is that ok?" Stefan asked Elena as he started pushing her towards the door. She stopped him and turned him to look at her.

"Wait, what was that?" she asked him.

"I-I don't know. uh, nothing." Stefan told her.

"Right, nothing. Ok, um... I gotta go, Stefan. Excuse me." Elena said before leaving. I turned to the old man and saw him watch Stefan. I quickly left and went home.

* * *

_I tried. I want so much to make things right, but every instinct in my body is telling me to be careful. What you don't know can hurt you_.

* * *

I sat in my room on my personal computer, looking things over. Something was wrong here, but I couldn't pin it. The broken bottle with fresh blood on it, but no fresh wound. Stefan and Damon's name's on the registry for the first Founder's Party. I'd gone back to look at it and saw two other names that disturbed me once I'd found them. Sadly Damon was the only Salvatore willing to talk about who I wanted to know about. Their names would forever be etched into my memory.

Katherine Pierce

Anna Pierce

* * *

At the Mystic Grill that night Logan walked up to the bar and stood next to the sheriff.

"Evening, Sheriff. Anything?" he asked her.

"We went over the entire west side of the lake. All the caverns by the falls were clean, no signs of habitat." She told him.

"Then they're staying in town." Logan told her.

"We canvassed all abandoned buildings and warehouses." She said.

"There has to be a private residence." Logan suggested.

"And that much harder to locate, if not impossible. These creatures are smart, they know how to go undetected." She reminded him.

"Well, someone who only comes out at night should eventually become obvious." Logan said quietly.

"What about the watch?" she asked him.

"I'm working on it." He told her.

"I knew the Gilberts. That watch is passed down to the men in the family. I'd start with Jeremy." She told him.

"Hey, Logan." Jenna called from a table. Logan nodded to the Sheriff and went to her.

"I can't believe you really came." He said to her.

"You have an hour. Make it count." She told him.

* * *

Elena sat in her bedroom alone when Jeremy walked in.

"You ok?" he asked her.

"Is Vicki in there?" she asked him with attitude.

"Don't answer a question with another question." He told her with a smile on his face. "Maybe. What's wrong with you?"

"I'm miserable." She told him as I walked up behind him.

"Well, you should go get something to eat." I said. She looked at me questioningly as Jeremy went back to his room. "Just go feed yourself. Don't be one of those girls who doesn't eat just because a boy hurt your feelings." I told her going back to my room and doing my research on what was happening in town.

Elena walked out of her room and down the stairs, hearing nothing.

"Jenna? Jenna?" she called out before walking into the kitchen and seeing… "Stefan? What are you doing here?"

"Dinner. Jeremy told me that Chicken Parmesan is one of your favorites, and I happen to be a good cook. The Italian roots demand it. I can even make my own homemade mozzarella. Only tonight, it is unfortunately store bought. Sorry." He told her with a smile.

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish." She told him.

"You want to know me, right? Well, I figure if you're going to dump me, you should at least, um, know who you're dumping. So let's start with Katherine and her twin, Anna." He told her while chopping up the vegetables.

"Stefan..." Elena started to stop him, but he didn't let her.

"Katherine was... the most beautiful girl that I had ever met. She had this perfect olive skin. And she had this laugh. It was ridiculous. I mean, her laugh made you laugh. And she was fun. She knew how to have a good time. But Anna was very manipulative and impatient and entitled and selfish, and, um, impulsive. She'd do whatever it took to protect her sister. Enter Damon. He found his match with Anna and I with Katherine. I did some things that...I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret... Is not being able to make it right before she died. I miss her, but... I'm no longer crippled by her loss." He told her.

* * *

"It was very nice what you did for Stefan. Very romantic." Vicki said to Jeremy after seeing his sister happy with Stefan.

"Well, I was feeling romantic." He told her.

"Look what I found. "Elena Gilbert, take one tablet every 4 to 6 hours, as needed for pain."" Vicki read off the prescription bottle.

"Those are left over from the car accident." Jeremy realized.

"So she won't miss them." Vicki said sitting at his desk. Vicki poured the pills out and grabbed the pocket watch to use to crush the pills up before Jeremy stops her.

"No not with that, that's an antique." He said taking it from her. She grabbed something else to crush the pills up. "I feel like we're always getting high."

"That's the beauty of choice." She told him with a smile.

"Well, then let's choose not to. I mean, we don't have to be high all the time, right?" he asked her.

"I really hope you're not one of those guys who, now that we're together, tries to change everything about me." She said rudely.

"No." he told her quietly.

"Good." She said, crushing the pills up.

* * *

"I'm an avid reader, a huge Fitzgerald fan, "The Great Gatsby", his masterpiece. But I'm no snob. I love some good Grisham. I think Seinfeld is the best American television show for the past 50 years, but I love Lucy is all-time. "The loving cup" episode was the best, I think. Huge Scorsese fan. I can watch Taxi Driver over and over again." Stefan told Elena.

"Here, let me." Elena told him, taking up the chopping of the garlic.

"As far as music, it's pretty much across the board. Um, Dylan, Hendrix, Patsy, Willie. A little Kanye. You know what? I even like that one Miley song." He told her and she smirked at him. "Easy."

"I didn't say anything. Hey, this is for the garlic bread, right? Because I'm not eating garlic unless you agree to, too." She told him.

"Are you kidding? I love garlic." He told her with a smile. She smiled at him before continuing the chopping.

"Ow! Ahh." She said, having cut her finger on the knife.

"You ok?" he asked her worriedly.

"Yeah. Think so." She told him, going to the sink to wash off her hand. Stefan looked down at his hand, feeling a cool liquid on his fingers, and saw Elena's blood. He looked back up at her as she looked in the window of the sink and watched as his face began to transform. "Your face..."

"I-I, uh, I think I got something in my eye." Eh told her quickly turning around so she wouldn't see.

"Stefan. Hey. Stefan!" He turned back to her, his face normal and she sighed. "Um, I think that my paranoia has turned into full-blown hallucinations."

"Part of your charm." He told her. He hesitated before kissing her but she beat him to it.

* * *

In the cellar at the Salvatore Boarding House, Damon looked up at the ceiling and used some of his vampire abilities to contact the one person he could control to get out of his prison.

"Caroline. Caroline." He called out. Caroline was in her room on the phone with one of the other cheerleaders, talking about the upcoming fundraiser.

"No, Tiki, do not do the one-piece, ok? I've seen it on you. Trust me. Yeah, but you're going for stripper pole vibe this year." She said laughing.

"Caroline." Damon called to her again.

"Yeah, maybe we should wash the cars in slow motion. No." Caroline told her friend.

"Caroline." Damon called.

"What? oh, um, no, sorry. Um, so I'll just see you tomorrow. Two-piece. Ok, bye." Caroline hung up the phone smiling. She turned and saw a crow at her window. She grabbed her pillow and pushed it at the crow trying to get it to leave. "Shoo, shoo! Shoo! God!"

* * *

The next day Stefan stood in the cellar, watching his brother suffer. He didn't take any joy out of this. He loved his brother and always would. But Damon was a danger to the people of Mystic Falls, to Elena and her sister. He had to protect them.

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" Damon asked him.

"Not particularly." Stefan told him.

"You won. You got the bad guy. Now nothing could come between you and Elena. Except the truth. The lies will catch up to you, Stefan. As long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are." Damon warned him.

"The beauty of you in there and me out here... Is that I can walk away." Stefan said before doing just that.

"No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here. No, we are not." Caroline told Elena and I at the sexy suds car wash.

"No we are not." Elena and I agreed as Stefan walked up to us.

"Hi." He said with a smile.

"Hey!" Elena said, standing to greet him.

"The event is called sexy suds, you know." Caroline told them before she and I walked away. I walked to Bonnie and Matt and began to help them wash the car they were working on as Caroline moved to someone else.

"Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked Elena.

"And judged, yeah." She confirmed.

"Wow." He wasn't used to that from someone who'd tried to come onto him.

"I'm sorry, but I guess you're going to have to take that off." Elena told him, gesturing to his sweatshirt.

"I think you have to go first." He told her.

"Ok." They both pull off their shirt, revealing their undershirts. Elena's shirt had gotten stuck on something as she was pulling it off. "Ok, um-sorry, So not sexy. Ugh."

"I disagree." Stefan said, helping her pull her shirt off. They smiled at each other before kissing.

"Uh-uh, no. None of that tortured pining stuff." Bonnie told Matt as he watched Stefan and Elena.

"I'm just observing." He told her.

"That's not observing. That's pining." I told him and he gave me a look before going back to washing the car.

"Oh. Tiki. this one's yours." Bonnie called to Tiki as a car pulled up and a man got out.

"Why do I always get the homely ones?" Tiki asked staring at it. "Just to be clear, your car's a p.o.s. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a p.o.s." the man tossed his keys onto the front seat and walked away from her.

"You don't have to be rude." Bonnie told her.

"Rude is uglying up the road with that junk." Tiki said getting a bucket and hose.

"Why didn't you say anything Chloe?" Bonnie asked me.

"Because I have no opinion about it." I told her. I watched Bonnie stare at Tiki when suddenly the water splashed up at her.

"Whoa! What the hell?" Tiki asked.

"Wet and wild, Tik." Matt laughed.

"What did you do?" I asked Bonnie.

"Nothing." She told me before going back to her washing.

* * *

"All proceeds are going to the school's athletic department still healing from the tragic death of their football coach William Tanner. The citizens of Mystic Falls coming together in support of one of their own. Cut it." Logan said, standing in front of the sexy suds car wash.

"Classy." Jenna said, walking to meet him as he walked to her.

"Thank you." He said to her, smiling.

"But you're still going to video the girls in bikinis, right?" Jenna asked him.

"Well, 53% of Americans watch the news with the sound off." He told her, making her laugh.

"Thank you for dinner. I had a nice time." She told him.

"Do you remember the last time we were in the school parking lot?" he asked her.

"Nope. Doesn't ring a bell." She told him.

"Really?" he asked her.

"Nada. Especially not having sex in the minivan." She told him, smiling at the memory.

"That was a good day." He said, before seeing her look. "What?" he asked her.

* * *

"You're getting soap in that." Elena told Stefan as they washed a car.

"Oh, it's fine." Stefan told her, looking at his ring.

"I noticed that Damon has one, too. Is there a story behind it?" Elena asked him.

"Yeah, it's the family crest from the Italian renaissance." He told her.

"Hmm. What's the stone?" she asked.

"It's called lapis lazuli." He said.

"Oh. You should really take it off. I could put it in my bag." She told him.

"No, it's- it's fine, really. Thanks, though." He said, looking down at his ring.

"Ok. I'm gonna get some towels." She told him walking away.

"Ok." He said.

* * *

"Hey, we're out of towels and those shimmy things." Elena told both me and Caroline as she sat down next to us at the money table.

"I'll go get some more. Mind the money." Caroline told us.

"I'll go with you." I told her. We walked through the halls of the school and tried to open one of the doors to find it locked. Caroline quickly turned and looked behind us, having seen a shadow that I couldn't see. "Care? What is it?" I asked her.

"Caroline. Caroline, help me. Caroline. Help me. Help me." Damon told her and she started walking away from me.

"Care? Caroline?" I called after her before following her.

* * *

"That'll be $20. I saw you last night. You were talking to a friend of mine. At the grill?" Elena said, remembering the previous day where the old man at spooked Stefan.

"Well, I-I thought it was somebody I knew." He told her.

"Stefan Salvatore." She said.

"Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me." He told her.

"Where do you think you'd seen him before?" she asked him.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house." He told her.

"Oh." She said.

"Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack." He told her.

"The attack?" she asked him confused.

"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods." The old man said.

"His uncle? Zach?" Elena asked him.

"Mm-mmm. Joseph." He told her.

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't think I'm familiar with the story." She told him.

"Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago." He told her.

"Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home. Ok?" Tiki told him.

"Ah." He said, turning and walking away.

"He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer." Tiki said to Elena.

"No, he was sweet." She told him getting up and following him. "Hey, sir, I'm sorry. Um, are you sure that the man that you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?"

"Yes. I remember his ring and his brother—" the man said.

"Damon?" she asked him.

"Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore." He said.

"When was this?" she asked him.

"It was early June, 1953. Yeah. June, 1953." He told her.

* * *

"Caroline finally freed you, huh?" Stefan asked her having finally found her after a moment of her thinking to herself about what she'd learned.

"Uh, I don't know where she and Chloe went. They abandoned me. Hey, I realized earlier, I had no idea that your family was from Italy." Elena said holding his hands.

"No? Last name Salvatore didn't do it for you?" he asked her with a smile.

"Right. Duh. Are there any other Salvatores in Mystic Falls?" she asked him.

"My uncle Zach." He told her.

"Where did everyone else go?" she asked him.

"Kinda just spread out." He said.

"Hmm." She said thinking.

"Why?" he asked her.

"I'm just trying to learn more about you." She told him.

"Hmm." He said with a smile.

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Jeremy asked as Vicki pulled him to an unknown place in the woods.

"We can't hide out in your room all the time. Welcome to my other favorite party place." Vicki told him with a smile on her face.

"What, a cemetery?" he asked her.

"Yeah. It's cool, huh?" She asked him. It wasn't what he would call cool but he liked Vicki and he wanted to spend time with her. Together they walked to where two guys and a girl were laying around.

"Yo, Vick!" one of the guys called to her,

"What's up, Jared?" Vicki asked him.

"You baby-sitting, Donovan?" the other boy asked him.

"This is Jeremy. He's cool." Vicki told him.

"Smoke up." The boy said handing her a joint. She inhaled deeply before blowing the smoke in Jeremy's face.

* * *

"Your car was done an hour ago." Elena told Jenna.

"You're saying that out loud why?" Jenna asked her as Logan walked up to them.

"Hi. Elena, right? I think I met you once when you were 9." He told her.

"Oh." Elena said with a smile.

"Your emotional maturity level when we were together." Jenna said.

"Ouch. Here I thought we were making progress." He said to her.

"Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask him for a favor?" Elena asked Jenna.

"If I do her a favor, will I get back in your good graces?" Logan asked Jenna.

"Uh, a very reluctant maybe to both." Jenna said, giving them both a look.

"Done. Wait. One condition. Dinner, tonight, your house." Logan said.

"Fine. But you're eating leftovers." Jenna told him.

"Ooh. What do you need?" Logan asked the teenager.

"Do you have access to old news stories, say, fifties?" Elena asked him.

"Yeah, at the station. Between the archives and the Internet, we pretty much have everything." Logan said.

"I have this report way past due. It'd be a life saver." She lied. She never liked to admit it, but she and her sister had a lot more in common than they both let on.

"Heading there now. Let's go." Logan said walking away.

"If anyone asks, you don't know where I went. I don't want Caroline to know that I left." Elena said before glancing at Stefan and walking away with Logan.

* * *

"Caroline, help me. Caroline. Help me." Damon called to Caroline as she and I walked into the boarding house.

"Caroline what are we doing here?" I asked her as we walked down to the basement.

"Damon?" Caroline called.

"Care, what would Damon be doing down here? Stefan said he left town." I reminded her.

"Damon? Damon?" We got to a wooden door and looked inside a small window to see Damon lying on the floor. "Oh, my god! What is this? How did I know that you were here?" Caroline asked him.

"Better question is what happened to you?" I asked him.

"I'm here because Stefan put me here." He told me and my head went spinning. "And you knew I was here because I wanted you to. Very, very badly. Let me out of here. Please."

"You bit me." Caroline said to him.

"You liked it. Remember?" he asked her and I stared between the two of them.

"Why do I keep remembering the same things, but in different ways?" she asked him.

"You remember what I want you to remember. And now that the vervain has passed out of your system, you won't remember what you're about to do." He told her.

"What am I about to do?" she asked him.

"You're gonna open the door." He told her. "You're gonna open the door." She looked down a at the door lock and began to open the door.

"No!" Suddenly we were pushed back by a man, I assumed Zack. "No! Get out of here. Run! Run!" Caroline and I ran up the stairs as Damon pushed open the door and snapped Zach's neck. We ran up the stairs when Damon grabbed Caroline's foot and tried to pull her down the stairs back to him. She kicked him and he fell down as we continued to run. We ran through the house and threw the doors open and ran out. I heard him scream in pain and turned and watched him burn as Caroline ran away.

"What are you?" I asked him and he just stared at me in the shadows of his house.

* * *

"Sweeper duty." Tiki told Bonnie holding a large sweeper broom.

"What?" Bonnie asked him.

"We have to clean the pavement." Tiki told her with a smirk.

"It's a car wash. By definition, the pavement's clean." Bonnie told her.

"But not dry." Tiki said.

"And I'm doing this why?" Bonnie asked her.

"Caroline and Chloe bailed, so that leaves me in charge." Tiki said handing her the broom.

"Fabulous." Bonnie said before standing up, holding the broom. She stared at a small thing of water and focused on it drying. Suddenly a fire started and followed the water stream to Tiki's car. The car burst into flames and everyone freaked.

"Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie! Hey." Stefan said, trying to shake the young girl from her trance.

"What just happened?" She asked him confused.

"You were in some kind of a trance." He told her.

"Did I do this?" Bonnie asked him.

"I think so, yeah." He nodded.

"Nobody else saw, did they? Don't tell anybody. Please." She begged him. He agreed and she ran away from the car wash

* * *

Damon just stared at me from his shadow as I stood in the nicely bright sunshine.

"I asked you a question, Damon. What are you?" I repeated.

"Why would I tell you?" he asked me weakly.

"Your brother's hand heals extremely quickly. Jer cut Stefan's hand with a bottle the night Mr. Tanner died, but when he showed Elena his hand their wasn't a cut." I told him.

"Then he didn't get cut." Damon said.

"Except he was. I found the bottle that Jeremy used and it still had fresh blood on it." I corrected him. "Now tell me, what are you?"

"Figure it out." He told me and I smirked at him.

"Well aren't you helpful." I said. "I take it until sunset you can't hurt me."

"Or at least shady enough that it doesn't hurt as much." He told me and I watched him.

"The sun will always hurt a vampire." I said and he gave me a slightly shocked and surprised look. "I've been putting the pieces together for a while now, Damon."

* * *

"We digitized all our archives last year. You can pull all the remote footage right up on screen. What is it exactly you're looking for?" Logan asked Elena in the News station.

"An incident from 1953. If it even happened- At the old Salvatore boarding house." Elena told him as Logan's cell rang.

"Sorry, one second." He answered the phone. "Yeah? Fire? All right, be right there. I gotta go. You believe there's actual news to cover in this town? All right, use keywords to search the database. It's pretty easy to navigate. And Brady down in tech will help you out with anything you need." Logan told her.

"Ok." Elena said.

"All right? Oh, hey. Could you put in a good word for me with Jenna?" Logan asked her.

"You got it." Elena agreed with a smile.

"All right. Good luck." Logan said before leaving to go back to the school.

* * *

"What?" Vicki asked a quite Jeremy at the cemetery.

"I'm stoned in a cemetery." Jeremy said with a small laugh.

"They don't mind, they're dead. Let me take this up a notch. Hey, Tony." Vicki threw a bottle to Tony and he caught it. He glanced at it and smiled.

"Oh! Nice. Vickies from Vicki. Ha!" The girl in his lap took the bottle and read it.

"Well, thank you, Elena Gilbert, whoever you are." She said with a smile.

"You took those from the house?" Jeremy asked Vicki, freaking out.

"She wasn't using it." Vicki reminded him.

"She's gonna notice if they're gone. That's not cool." Jeremy told them.

"It's no big deal, Jer." Vicki insisted.

"Yeah, it kinda is, Vick." Jeremy snapped at her.

"Damn, dude." One of the other guys said to him as he snatched the bottle and walked away.

"Vicki brought the party police." Tony said laughing slightly.

"Shut up, Tony." Vicki said, following after her boyfriend. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Well, what are we doing, partying in a cemetery with a bunch of losers?" Jeremy asked her.

"Those are my friends." She told him.

"They're waste of space small-town lifers." He told her.

"Yeah? What am I?" She asked him offended.

"You're different, Vick." Jeremy told her.

"No, you are. You're the kid with the big house who's acting out because his parents died. Guess what- You'll get over it. You will pull yourself together, move on, and one day tell your kids stories about your dark period growing up. And I'll still be here, waiting tables at the grill, partying at the cemetery with a bunch of waste of space small-town lifers." She told him angrily.

"Look—" Jeremy started saying but she stopped him.

"Go home, Jeremy. If I want to feel like crap about myself, I'll just go back to Tyler." She told him walking away.

* * *

At the sexy suds carwash, Stefan was looking everywhere for Elena but couldn't seem to find her.

"Hey, have you seen Elena?" Stefan asked Matt when they crossed paths.

"No, not for a while." Matt told him.

"You think she went home?" Stefan asked him.

"Not sure." He said.

"Thanks." Stefan said. He was about to walk away when Matt stopped him.

"Hey. I'm not saying this for you. I'm saying it for her. But she's big on trust. So whatever you're holding back from her, the more you try to hide it, the more she won't stop till she figures it out." Matt warned him.

* * *

"When did you find out?" he asked me.

"When you couldn't step out into the sunlight. Kinda narrows the list." I told him. I looked into the sky and saw the sun starting to set.

"Running out of daylight, Chloe?" he asked me and I looked back at him to see him standing closer to me. The shadow in the doorway had gotten larger and he was almost able to touch me if he didn't mind a small burn on his arm.

"I better take my leave then." I said turning and walking away from him.

"You won't get far enough in time." He told me and I turned back to him with a smile.

"You won't kill me." I stated.

"And why's that?" he asked me and I walked back up to him, making sure to stay just out of, what I thought, would be his reach.

"Why aren't I dead already?" I asked.

"Maybe I want something else from you." He suggested.

"Like what?" I asked him.

"Blood." He grabbed my arm and slammed me against his body before biting my neck, making me scream.

* * *

Elena finally found the footage she was looking for and watched it.

"This is Franklin Fell reporting to you from the Salvatore Boarding House, where a brutal animal attack has ended in tragedy. Ok, they're bringing out the bodies. See if you can get closer. Is that the nephew?" She watched as the camera zoomed in. She saw Stefan on the porch and stared in shock.

* * *

Caroline laid on her bed and stared at her ceiling. She'd forgotten what had happened at the Salvatore Boarding House, but she felt horrible about something.

"I didn't see you at the car wash." Her mother said, standing in the doorway.

"Left early." Caroline told her.

"Honey, are you ok? Anything you want to talk about? Is it a boy thing?" Her mother asked her.

"Mom, if I want to talk boys, I'll call dad. At least he's successfully dating one." Caroline told her.

* * *

Stefan walked into his home and found the doors to the house and basement wide open. He quickly ran downstairs and found Zach's body and Damon gone.

"Zach! Oh, no, Zach..."

* * *

Elena rushed into her room and stared into her mirror, thinking about everything she learned.

_Dear diary, I'm not a believer. People are born, they grow old, and then they die. That's the world we live in. There's no magic, no mysticism, no immortality. There's nothing that defies rational thought._

* * *

Someone knocked on a white door and waited patiently for the owner of the house to open it. When she did Bonnie turned to her and cried.

"I don't know what's happening to me." Bonnie cried to the woman in front of her.

"I know, dear." Bonnie Gran said to her with a smile before bringing her in for a comforting hug.

* * *

At the Gilbert House Logan was waiting for Jenna to be occupied in the kitchen with dinner. Once she was he snuck up to Jeremy's room and began digging around for the watch.

"Logan?" Jenna called from downstairs. "Logan?"

* * *

_People are supposed to be who they say they are. And not lie or hide their true selves._

* * *

When Logan found the watch, he quickly left the room he bumped into Jeremy.

"What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked him.

"Oh, hey, man. Just looking for the bathroom." Logan told him.

* * *

_It's not possible. I'm not a believer, I can't be. But how can I deny what's right in front of me? Someone who never grows old..._

* * *

_"1953_."

* * *

_Never gets hurt..._

* * *

_"Oh, my god, your hand! Is it deep? How bad is it?"_

* * *

_Someone who changes in ways that can't be explained..._

* * *

_"Hey, um, are you ok? Your eye. Your face."_

* * *

_Girls bitten..._

* * *

_"What is that? Oh, my god, what happened to you?"_

_"It's nothing!"_

* * *

_Bodies drained of blood..._

* * *

_" Did she say what kind of animal it was?"_

_"She said it was a vampire."_

* * *

At the cemetery the local druggies were still hanging around.

"Donovan?" the boy asked, offering her a joint.

"No, I'm good." She told him as the music from one of their vehicles

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it. Ah, Vicki." Vicki rolled her eyes and got up to turn the music back on. Once the small task was done she heard someone coughing and groaning. She looked up to see a man leaning on the bed of the truck she just turned back on.

"Hey, man, you ok?" she asked him.

"Come here. Come here." He said quietly to her.

"You don't look good." She said.

"Come closer. I have something- That I have to tell you." He said, keeping his face hidden from her. He started to move towards her but fell. She caught him before he hit the ground and helped him stand.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I got you, I got you. It's ok. It's ok." She told him. He quickly put his hand over her mouth and bit her neck. He looked up, revealing himself to be Damon and biting back into her neck. She called out as loudly as she could but no one could hear her due to his hand over her mouth. She reached for something in the bed of the truck but her hand fell as she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Back at the Salvatore House, Stefan grabbed a stake he'd hidden and ran to the door. He quickly opened the door and Elena turned to look at him.

"What are you?"

* * *

I opened my eyes and quickly sat up on the bed I was laying. I looked around to see a bare room with a very modern bathroom attacked to it. I put my hand on my neck and pulled it back to see blood on my hand. I crawled out of the bed I was in and left the room to see I was in the Salvatore House. What happened after Damon bit me?


	6. Lost Girls

Previously on The Bad Twin:

_I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her._

* * *

"Chloe. She's a dead ringer for Anna"

* * *

"Is that Damon Salvatore?"

"And, Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked and we turned to Stefan for an answer.

"The original Salvatore brothers."

* * *

I sat in my room on my personal computer, looking things over. Something was wrong here, but I couldn't pin it. The broken bottle with fresh blood on it, but no fresh wound. Stefan and Damon's name's on the registry for the first Founder's Party. I'd gone back to look at it and saw two other names that disturbed me once I'd found them. Sadly Damon was the only Salvatore willing to talk about who I wanted to know about. Their names would forever be etched into my memory.

Katherine Pierce

Anna Pierce

* * *

"1864. You and Katherine were the perfect couple next to George and Anna."

* * *

"They've come back." Logan agreed.

* * *

"Did you get the Gilbert watch?" Sheriff Forbes asked.

"I can get it." Logan said next to her.

* * *

Logan snuck up to Jeremy's room and began digging around for the watch.

When Logan found the watch, he quickly left the room.

* * *

"You were right, you're no one's second choice." He kissed my cheek before smiling down at me. I smiled up at him lightly.

* * *

I heard him scream in pain and turned and watched him burn as Caroline ran away.

"What are you?" I asked him and he just stared at me in the shadows of his house.

I heard him scream in pain and turned and watched him burn as Caroline ran away.

"What are you?" I asked him and he just stared at me in the shadows of his house.

* * *

"I better take my leave then." I said turning and walking away from him.

"You won't get far enough in time." He told me and I turned back to him with a smile.

"You won't kill me." I stated.

"And why's that?" he asked me and I walked back up to him, making sure to stay just out of, what I thought, would be his reach.

"Why aren't I dead already?" I asked.

"Maybe I want something else from you." He suggested.

"Like what?" I asked him.

"Blood." He grabbed my arm and slammed me against his body before biting my neck, making me scream.

* * *

"Hey, man, you ok?" she asked him.

"Come here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I got you," He quickly put his hand over her mouth and bit her neck.

* * *

"I know you."

"I think you have the wrong person, sir." Stefan insisted.

"You haven't aged a day." The man said to him.

* * *

"Look, there are things that you don't know, okay? Things that I want to tell you, but I can't." Stefan told Elena.

* * *

"Are you sure that the man that you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked him.

"Yes." he confirmed.

"When was this?" she asked him.

"1953."

* * *

_Dear diary, I'm not a believer. People are born, they grow old, and then they die. That's the world we live in. __But how can I deny what's right in front of me? Someone who never grows old..._

* * *

_"1953_."

* * *

_Never gets hurt..._

* * *

_"Oh, my god, your hand! Is it deep? How bad is it?"_

* * *

_Someone who changes in ways that can't be explained..._

* * *

_"Hey, um, are you ok? Your eye. Your face."_

* * *

_Girls bitten..._

* * *

_"What is that? Oh, my god, what happened to you?"_

_"It's nothing!"_

* * *

_Bodies drained of blood..._

* * *

_" Did she say what kind of animal it was?"_

_"She said it was a vampire."_

* * *

Elena quickly grabbed the car keys and rushed over to the Salvatore Boarding House.

* * *

Stefan grabbed a stake he'd hidden and ran to the door. He quickly opened the door.

* * *

**Mystic Falls, Virginia, 1864**

Stefan stepped out of the front door of his father's house and watched as a carriage pulled up. The driver put a step on the ground for the people inside and opened the door before helping a black woman out. The black woman stepped out and helped two women, who were dressed elegantly, out of the carriage. He approached both women and grabbed both their hands and bowed slightly to them.

"You must be Miss Anna Pierce and Miss Katherine Pierce." He said with a smile.

"Please, call me Katherine." Katherine said, curtsying to him.

"And I insist you call me Anna." Anna told him.

* * *

Stefan quickly opened the door of the boarding house and Elena turned to look at him.

"What are you?" she asked him. He just stared at her shocked she was there. "_What are you?"_

"You know." He said after a moment of silence between the two of them.

"No, I don't." she insisted.

"Yes, you do, or you wouldn't be here." He corrected her.

"It's not possible. It can't be." She said shaking her head at him, not wanting to believe her. Stefan set down the stake he was holding and walked off the porch. She backed away from him with every step he took.

"Everything you know... And every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?" he asked her.

"What are you?" she asked him.

"I'm a vampire." He said after a moment. She stared at him, not wanting to believe what he said, hoping he'd laugh and tell her he was joking. But he didn't.

"I shouldn't have come." She said backing away from him.

"No. Please." Stefan begged her as he walked towards her.

"No. No." she ran to the car only for him to appear in front of him. "How did you do that?" she asked looking from where he had been to where he was in front of her.

"Please don't be afraid of me." He begged her.

"Let me go." She said side stepping him.

"No. Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand." He said grabbing her arms trying to make her listen.

"Let me go!" she yelled.

"Elena, please." He begged her but she managed to get out of his arms and ran to her car. She got into her car and quickly drove away back to her house. She ran into her house and up to the bathroom the joined both her and Jeremy's room. She opened the door to look in Jeremy's room and saw him sitting in a chair listening to music. She quietly closed the door and walked to Chloe's room and opened the door, but she didn't see her. She closed the door and walked to her room and sat on her bed and kicked her shoes off before lying back on her bed. She instantly sat up and walked to the window then to her closet so she could take off her jacket and hang it up.

"Elena." She gasped and quickly turned to the window to see Stefan, throwing her jacket on the bed. She ran to the door and opened it but he was suddenly behind her and pushed the door closed. "I would never hurt you. You're safe with me."

"All those animal attacks, those people who died—"she said, turning to him.

"No. That was Damon!" he told her.

"Damon?" she asked him.

"Yes. I don't drink human blood. That's not how I choose to survive, but Damon does! I'll explain everything to you, but I beg you, Elena, do not tell anybody." He begged.

"How can you ask me that?" she asked him.

"Because you knowing this is dangerous for so many reasons. You can hate me, but I need you to trust me." He begged.

"Just go. Just go, please. Go. If you mean me no harm, then you'll go!" she told him.

"I never wanted this." He told her. She turned to the door and opened it and turned back to her room. He was gone. She quickly went to her window and slammed it shut and locked it.

* * *

At the cemetery, Damon was drinking from one of the druggies necks, draining them. He picked up the wrist of the boy he drained and wiped his mouth on his sleeve before standing up and dragging his body on top of the fire. He grabbed the bottle of liquor and went to the first boy. He searched his body for something but when he didn't find it he doused him in the liquor and searched the next body. When he found the boys cell phone he doused the boy in the liquor and dialed a number.

"Hello?" Stefan answered.

"I want my ring." Damon told him, taking a drink from the bottle.

"Where are you?" Stefan asked him.

"I'm at the sizzler. I had the buffet. Where's my ring?" Damon asked him lighting a torch from the fire and lighting the bodies on fire.

"I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?" Stefan asked passing in front of the Gilbert House.

"No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy." Damon told him.

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?" Stefan asked him.

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan. Where's my ring?" Damon asked again.

"I gave it to Zach to hide." Stefan said making Damon look up from his work. "Probably shouldn't have killed him." Damon thought about it for a moment.

"Ah, you almost got me. Where is it?" Damon asked him.

"I'll get it back, but I need time." Stefan told him.

"What, did you FedEx it to Rome?! Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or my next stop's Elena's. I already have Chloe with me so all I'd need is your little girlfriend."

"I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen." Stefan warned him.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart." Damon told him.

"Yeah? Is that gonna be before or after you get your ring back?" Stefan asked him.

"Just get it." Damon told him before hanging up. Damon walked to Vicki and poured alcohol on her to burn her body, but she coughed. He bent over her as she moved her head from one side to another. "You just don't wanna die, do you?"

* * *

Stefan was at the Gilbert home as they slept, protecting the remaining family from Damon and worrying about the other twin.

* * *

I tried to leave the house quickly but stopped when Damon appeared out of nowhere in front of me.

"What do you want from me?" I asked him.

"Nothing, for now." Damon told me before grabbing my arm and dragging me to the parlor. He pushed me onto one of the couches and put a gave a woman a white rag. I looked at the woman and my eyes widened.

"Vicki?" I asked worriedly. She and Jeremy had been joined at the hip recently. If she was here and bitten by Damon then… "What did you do to my brother?" I demanded.

"Nothing, your brother wasn't with her." Damon said sitting next to me, holding me in one place.

"Why am I here? Why not just kill me and get it over with?" I asked him.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked me and I gave him a look. "You hate not knowing, don't you?"

"I know what is necessary to me. And since you're keeping me alive I should know why." I told him.

"You'll know when I want you to know." Damon told me, standing and dragging me with him back to the room I woke up in. He threw me onto the bed and laid down next to me.

"What are you doing?!" I demanded, pushing him away from me.

"Oh, calm down. It's going to be a long night if you keep trying to fight me." He said pulling me close to him, my back pressing against his chest.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I yelled at him again.

"Shut up and go to sleep. Stop trying to kick me out of my bed." He ordered me and I froze. His bed? Why would he put me in his bed?

* * *

The next day, Elena was sitting in her room, thinking about what to write in her diary. When nothing came to her mind she tossed it on her bed and went to the bathroom and pulled hair back and brushing her teeth. She then got dressed and went to meet Stefan at a coffee place.

"You said you would explain everything. That's why I asked you to meet me here." She explained to him. "When you Google "vampire," you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?"

"I can tell you whatever you wanna know." He told her.

"I know you eat garlic." She said.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"And somehow, sunlight's not an issue." She said. He looked behind her and saw their waitress behind Elena.

"Hi, here are your drinks." She told them putting Stefan's drink in front of him and handing Elena hers.

"Thank you." Elena said before the waitress left.

"We have rings that protect us." Stefan told her, showing her his ring.

"Crucifixes?" she asked.

"Decorative." He said.

"Holy water?" she asked.

"Drinkable." He said.

"Mirrors?" she asked

"Myth." He said.

"You said you don't kill to survive." She repeated.

"Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon. He can be very powerful." Stefan explained to her.

"And yet you let him get involved with Caroline?" she asked him.

"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe me." He told her.

"He was hurting her!" Elena almost shouted at him.

"He was feeding on her. He was able to take away her memories of being bitten using a form of mind compulsion. She never knew what was happening to her. If he wanted to kill her, he would have." Stefan explained.

"Is that supposed to make it ok?" She asked him.

"No. No, none of this is ok, Elena. I know that." Stefan explained to her.

"Are there any others, aside from you and Damon?" she asked him.

"Not in Mystic Falls; not anymore." He told her.

"Not anymore?" she asked.

"There was a time when this town was... very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that you don't tell anyone." He explained.

"I can't promise that." She told him.

"Elena... Give me today. I will answer any questions that you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you wanna do with what you know. It'll be your choice." He told her and she nodded.

* * *

At the cemetery Logan and Sheriff Forbes were bent over one of the bodies covered in a yellow tarp.

"Never smelled one this bad before." Logan said to her.

"It tried to cover its tracks." Sheriff Forbes told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked her as they stood up.

"I'm positive. You only burn a corpse to try to hide cause of death, and there are no shell casings." She explained to him.

"We know who they are?" he asked indicating to the bodies.

"Doc'll have to check their dental records." She said.

"What story should I run?" Logan asked her.

"Drug deal gone bad?" she asked him and he gave a look. "It's not too big a stretch."

"I got the Gilbert watch." He told her quietly.

"Good." She told him as one of her deputies walked to them.

"Found this in the brush about 10 yards away." He told them. Sheriff Forbes took the clutch and began digging through it for an ID.

"Vicki Donovan." She read.

"You know her?" Logan asked her.

"I went to high school with her mother." She said.

"Think she's one of these?" Logan asked.

"I hope not." She told him.

* * *

"Where are you, Stefan?" Damon asked as he dragged me with him through the house avoiding the sunlight. "I'm trapped at the house, and I'm getting really bored and really impatient, and I don't do bored and impatient. Bring me my ring." He hung up the phone. "Damn it. Aw, don't get blood on the couch! Please?" he called to Vicki.

"Like she has a choice in the matter idiot." I said. He grabbed my wrist and my bracelet then dropped my hand quickly.

"Vervain. Really?" he asked me.

"What's vervain?" I asked him.

"The only herb that can hurt a vampire and stop compulsion." He told me.

"Compulsion?" I asked.

"Mind control." He said turning from me and walking to Vicki. "I got you good, didn't I?" he asked lifting the rag off her wound. "Well, you're not gonna be any fun today. I'm so gonna regret this." He bit his wrist and put it to her mouth.

"What are you doing to her?" I demanded to know as she struggled against him.

"Vampire blood heals humans." He explained as she gave in to him. "Drink up. Drink it up. Don't drip. There you go. Good girl. That's it."

* * *

Elena and Stefan drove through the woods at Stefan's request.

"Stop here." He told her.

"What are we doing here?" she asked him as they got out of the car.

"I want to show you something." He said.

"In the middle of nowhere?" she asked him looking around.

"This... Didn't used to be nowhere. It used to be my home." He explained to her.

"It looks so..." she broke off, not wanting to say the word she thought.

"Old?" he offered her. "It's because they are."

"Wait. How long have you..." she started asking him, not sure if she really wanted the answer.

"I've been 17 years old since 1864." He told her and she looked at him shocked.

"Oh, my god." She said shocked.

"You said you wanted to know. I'm not gonna hold anything back." He reminded her. "Half a century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Damon and I... We were both born here. The Salvatore brothers, best friends."

* * *

**Mystic Falls, Virginia, 1864**

Stefan and Damon ran out of the house, playing football.

"Wait. Where did you learn this game?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Camp outside Atlanta. One of the officers picked it up at Harvard. Catch." Damon through the ball and Stefan caught it.

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What are the rules? What are the rules?" Stefan asked as he and Damon playfully struggled for the ball with smiles on their faces.

"Who needs rules?" Katherine asked as she and her sister Anna walked off the porch and to the brothers.

"Mind if and I join you?" Anna asked them.

"Uh, well, you could, uh- you two could get hurt. My brother likes to play rough." Stefan told them and Anna smiled at the elder brother at his words.

"Somehow, I think that you play rougher." Katherine told him, getting close to him. Anna walked away a little bit before her sister snatched the ball from Stefan and they both ran off, throwing the ball to one another as they went, laughing.

"Why are you just standing there? Those are girls who clearly want to be chased." Damon said as they watched the two girls disappear in the garden area. "If you don't do it, I will." Damon ran after them with Stefan close behind.

* * *

"You knew Katherine in 1864? Damon made it seem like..." Elena started saying.

"Damon was trying to make you think that... I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you, and he wanted to ruin it." Stefan explained to her.

"All because you loved the same sisters 145 years ago?"

"They weren't just any sisters." Stefan told her.

* * *

**Mystic Falls, Virginia, 1864**

Anna watched as Stefan chased Katherine in through a garden maze, both laughing. She started walking towards their destination, a statue at the other end. Katherine reached the statue and they both stopped running.

"Katherine." They both turned to see Anna behind them. "Your stings became loose. Have Emily fix them." She ordered and the younger twin left with a smile on her face.

"Do you have to be so hard on her?" Stefan asked, watching the woman he'd grown close to walk away.

"If I'm not then who will be?" Anna asked him.

"A strong man perhaps?" they both turned their heads to see Damon leaning on a post not far from them with a smirk on his face.

"They extended your leave?" Stefan asked him with a smile.

"I was simply having too much fun to return to battle." Damon said simply.

"Your commitment to the confederacy is inspiring." Stefan laughed as they walked to each other and hugged.

"Well, this works out wonderfully for my sister and me." Anna said with a smirk on her face.

"How's that, Miss Anna?" Damon asked her.

"Now we'll have both of you here to keep us entertained. First and foremost, we'll need someone to escort us to the founder's ball." She said as she started to walk away.

"With pleasure."

"I would be honored." Both boys said. They looked at each other with a look on their faces as she looked up with a smirk on her face while her back was to them.

"The smart and kind Salvatore brothers both coming to our rescue." She said turning to them with a smile before it fell to confusion. "How will we ever choose?" she asked walking away.

* * *

"Katherine chose me and Anna chose George Lockwood. We escorted them to the ball at the original Lockwood mansion." Stefan told Elena.

"The first founder's party; where you signed the registry." Elena said, putting the pieces together.

"I didn't care that I had gotten something I wanted while my brother didn't. I didn't even care if it hurt him. I only knew that I wanted her." Stefan told her.

"So he was upset." Elena concluded.

"That's the thing about Damon. He doesn't get mad. He just gets even." Stefan told her.

* * *

At the Salvatore House, Damon had turned on some music as Vicki took a shower. Damon had ripped my bracelet off and tossed it somewhere and compelled me to stay with him until he said otherwise.

"This is all we're going to do today?" I asked him, bored.

"No, we are going to have a party." He told me and I raised my eyebrow at him as Vicki came back downstairs in her panties and gray tank with a towel.

"Oh, man. That shower was so great." She said looking at her neck in the mirror. Damon's blood had down what he told me it would do, heal her completely. "What did you give me?" she asked him.

"Some blood. You loved it." He told her.

"I did? Wait. I'm confused. How did we get here?" she asked him looking between us.

"I was here before you were, so don't ask me." I said walking away from them slightly. I raised my hand to my neck and felt nothing. No blood, no bite mark, nothing. When did he heal me? Last night when I was sleeping?

"We met in the woods. You were drunk. I attacked you. Then I killed all of your friends and brought you here, gave you same blood. You loved it. And now we're gonna party till the sun goes down." I turned and saw him compelling her.

"Ok. Um, but first, can I have another hit? That blood was so good." She said with a smile on her face.

"Only if I can." He told her and she nodded giving him her wrist. Damon smirked and bit his wrist and gave it to her before biting her wrist and drinking. She smiled and turned to his wrist and drank making me look away in disgust.

* * *

"What Damon wants, Damon usually gets." Stefan told Elena at the old Salvatore field. "I didn't know it at the time, but... Turns out that night... Anna was with him, too."

"So he stole her from your friend?" she asked him.

"Turns out they wasn't ours to steal." Stefan told her.

**Mystic Falls, Virginia, 1864.**

Stefan was with Katherine in her room on their first night together.

"I will love you forever." Stefan told Katherine before kissing down her neck.

"Forever is a very long time, you know." Katherine told him.

"Not long enough." He said before kissing her deeply. Once he moved back to her neck she elongated her fangs and bit him.

* * *

Anna and Damon were in Anna's room lying side by side after spending many hours together.

"Do you love me Damon?" she asked him, rolling onto her stomach and looking up at him.

"Of course I do. You know that I love you more anything." He told her and she smiled at him, allowing him to see her face change before she bit him and took her fill of blood.

* * *

The next morning, Katherine stood at the mirror as Emily, her and her sister's handmaiden, helped her with her corset. Stefan woke up and rolled onto his back, revealing blood all over his pillow. He quickly sat up, remembering the night before with Katherine.

"Good morning." She said with a smile on her face looking at him in the mirror. She stood straight and turned to him. "Clear the room, please." Emily bowed her head and left to attend to Anna who had been with Damon the previous night. "You're upset."

"Your face, it was like a demon." Stefan said, staring at her in fear.

"But you're not afraid." She told him walking to the side of the bed.

"Get away from me. Get away." He said backing from her as far as he could on the bed.

"It doesn't change the way you feel about me. You will not tell anyone." She compelled.

"I—" she put a finger to his lips to stop him talking.

"Shh. We will go on exactly as we have." She compelled.

"Yes. We will go on." He said with a smile.

"You have no idea of the future Anna and I have planned for us, Stefan—You and me with Anna and Damon. No rules." She told him.

* * *

In Anna's room, Damon woke to Emily helping Anna with her final layer of the dress she was to wear for the day.

"Good morning." She said with a smile to him. He sat up and felt his neck. Felling the liquid on his neck he looked at his hand to see blood that was still drying. He looked behind him to her sheets to see blood on them. Once she was done dressing, she moved to the side of the bed and looked at Damon.

"Your face…" he said.

"I'm glad you woke up. For a moment I was afraid I'd killed you." She told him with a worried look on her face.

"You could never kill me." He told her moving towards her and kissing her deeply.

"You're not afraid?" she asked once they pulled apart.

"How could I be afraid of one so beautiful?" he asked her and she smiled at him before moving away from him.

* * *

"They could control my mind; and Damon's. They compelled each of us to keep the secret from the other. They wanted all of us to be together. Forever. Didn't work out that way, but... Damon and I, looks like we're stuck with each other... Like it or not." Stefan said pulling out Damon's ring from the ruins.

"Is that Damon's ring?" Elena asked him.

"I took it from him and he took Chloe. I have to give it back." Stefan told her.

"No, don't, Stefan. Keep it hidden." Elena insisted.

"You'd risk your sister's life to keep him in one place during the day?" he asked her.

"No, but…" she started saying.

"Elena, if I don't give it to him, he'll retaliate in the only way that he knows he can hurt me." He told her.

"And how is that?" she asked him.

"By hurting you." He told her.

* * *

"We're working on it, Mayor Lockwood." The Sheriff insisted while Mayor Lockwood opened up a secret area in the floor at the Lockwood Mansion.

"Doc ID the bodies?" he asked her.

"A few townies. Notorious druggies." She told him.

"I suppose that'll make it easy for people to buy the story. And Vicki Donovan?" he asked.

"She's not one of the deceased." She said.

"Where the hell is she?" he demanded angrily.

"I wish I knew." She said shrugging as Logan walked in.

"Sorry I'm late." He said.

"You have the watch?" the Mayor asked him. Logan handed him the watch and Mayor Lockwood removed the watch covering and pulled out a box from the hideaway under the floor. He opened it to reveal a compass face and inserted it into the base of the watch until it clicked into place before handing t back to Logan. "It's ready."

"That's it?" Logan asked him.

"Yes. That's it." He said before Logan took the compass from him.

* * *

At the Salvatore house Vicki was dancing in the sun from the windows as Damon was drinking.

"I am so over Tyler, so over him. I knew from the beginning that I was only a piece of ass to him, but I thought maybe if he got to know me better, he might see something more, but no. He kept going on and on about you, Chloe. Now, Jeremy, on the other hand, that's all he's ever seen in me is something more, and I like that." She said.

"Jeremy, huh? Your brother?" Damon asked turning to me.

"Yep." I said, taking the bottle he was drinking out of and taking a large drink. If I had to be here I was going to get crazy drunk.

"Yeah. yeah. So, Elena used to date my brother, and they were always together, so Jeremy would always be hanging around and crushing on me and- Hey, why don't you have a girlfriend? You're, like, totally cool and so hot." Vicki said.

"I know." He told her and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you wanna be in love?" she asked him.

"I've been in love. It's painful and pointless and overrated." Damon said as he avoided the sunlight streaming in through the windows as he moved through the parlor.

"Except when it isn't." she countered.

"No more talking. Let's dance." He said, picking her up and spinning her making her laugh. He used his vampire speed and came to me. He grabbed me by my waist and moved me to the beat of the music, making me smile for some reason. I joined him and Vicki in dancing around the parlor as though nothing bad in the world could ever hurt me. Every so often I'd see Damon staring at me before he flashed up to the banister and danced up there before motioning for Vicki and I to join him. She flicked him off before she and I made our way up the stairs. He flashed behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and spun me around as the three of us made our way to one of the bedrooms. Vicki instantly went to the bed and started jumping on it as Damon knocked things over and destroyed the room. I watched as Damon picked something up and looked at it with sorrow in his eyes. I looked at him confused before he moved the party back downstairs.

"My mom spends most of her time in Virginia beach with Pete. He drives trucks. I don't remember my dad, but from what I gather, he's not worth remembering." Vicki cried as she and Damon slow danced.

"Your life is so pathetic." Damon told her spinning her away from him and grabbing my hand and pulling me to him so we were able to dance.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm the screwed-up one. Matt's got it so easy. He's the golden boy. I mean, he's gonna get a football scholarship and marry Elena and have a lawn mower and some babies, and when i think of my future, I just come up blank." She told us.

"You are so damaged." He told her.

"Yep." She agreed.

"I mean, you don't have one hint of self-esteem." He said.

"Nope, none." She said.

"I think I know what can help you." He told her.

"So what's that?" she asked. He flashed over to her and put his hands on her face.

"Death." And with that he snapped her neck.

"Vicki!" I screamed and ran to her broken body. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Don't worry, she'll wake up soon." Damon said walking away from us.

"You killed her! How can you say she'll wake up soon if you snapped her neck?" I asked him. He just ignored me and continued on his way.

* * *

After a few minutes, she woke up gasping and holding her neck.

"What happened? We were dancing, and then—" she said.

"Then I killed you." He told her.

"What?" she asked him.

"You're dead." I told her.

"I'm dead?" she asked.

"Yeah, well, let's not make a big deal out of it. You drank my blood, I killed you, and now you have to feed in order to complete the process." Damon explained to her.

"You're wasted." She told him.

"He's not lying Vicki. He snapped your neck." I told her.

"You're both wasted." She said standing up and moving to walk out the door.

"You don't wanna be out there all alone. You're about to get really freaky." Damon told her.

"Ok, I had a really good time. I just wanna go home." She said.

"You're gonna start craving blood, and until you get it, you're gonna feel very out of it. You have to be careful." Damon warned her.

"Come on, move." She said.

"See? you're already starting to fall apart." He said with a smirk on his face.

"And I'm going home now." She told him.

"Ok, fine. I'm just warning you." He said as she started walking away. "Actually, you know what? You should go. In fact, if I were you, I would stop by your boyfriend Jeremy's house."

"What? No! Vicki stay away from him!" I said and he held me back from reaching her.

"Yeah, whatever." She said.

"Bye. If you see Stefan, tell him to call me." Damon called to her.

* * *

"I got Stanley on the Moore street entrance. The rest of us will cover other access points. Call him or call me if that thing goes off. Don't use the radio. Cellphones only." Sheriff Forbes instructed to Logan as they prepared.

"Got it." Logan said.

"You've got 8 rounds. Remember, wood bullets won't kill him, but it'll wound him enough for you to get close and stake him. You sure you can handle this?" she asked him.

"Of course I can." He said as a deputy gave him a stake.

"You ever staked a vampire before?" she asked him.

"Have you?" he asked her.

* * *

At the Gilbert house, Jeremy walked to the door as the doorbell kept ringing.

"I'm Coming!" Jeremy called before opening the door and seeing Vicki.

"Hey. The sun is killing me. My eyes are on fire." She told him.

"Where have you been?" he asked her.

"It's good. Everything's good." She told him before they started to kiss.

"Did something happen?" he asked her, breaking away from the kiss.

"I'm hungry. What do you got to eat?" she asked him moving to the kitchen.

"You're high? Vicki, it's the middle of the day." He reminded her.

"Could you just not talk so loud? My head, it hurts. I need quiet." She complained before pulling food from the fridge.

* * *

At the old Salvatore field, Elena and Stefan were preparing to leave when the one question that had been bugging her for a while now had to be asked.

"The mind control... You said Katherine and Anna used. Do you ever do that to me?" she asked him.

"No. That necklace, it contains an herb called vervain. It protects you from being compelled. I wanted to protect you from Damon's influence. But I also wanted to... Protect you from me. Elena, you should never take that necklace off... Because no matter what happens after today, no matter how you feel about me... You'll know that you were free to make your own choice." He told her.

* * *

At the Gilbert house, Jeremy had called Matt over to help calm his sister.

"Where is she?"

"Come this way." Jeremy led Matt to the kitchen where Vicki was sitting boxes and tuber ware around her.

"What's she on?" Matt asked him quietly.

"I-I don't know." Jeremy confided. Matt sighed and bent down to Vicki and took of the sunglasses she hadn't removed.

"Hey, Vic. How you doin'?" he asked his baby sister.

"Not good, Mattie. I hurt." She told him.

"Ok, where's it hurt?" Matt asked her.

"My gums. My jaw hurts. My gum-there's something in my gums, and it hurts." She cried.

"Ok, well—" he was about to try and help but she pushed him away lightly.

"No. Just leave me alone." She ordered.

"Come on, Vic. Don't be like that. Let's get you home." He said.

"Just turn it off!" she shouted.

"Turn what off?" Jeremy asked her.

"The talking, the chatter, just turn it off." She said pushing past them and walking away from them. She only stopped when she saw Logan Fell on the TV at the cemetery with the audio down.

"...horribly. 3 bodies were found dead in what is believed to be a drug deal gone awry. The bodies have yet to be identified. They were discovered earlier today over at the old Mystic Falls cemetery." Logan said.

"That's where we were last night." Jeremy said looking to Vicki.

"What happened, Vic?" Matt asked her as she watched the TV.

"..homicide, and are fast under way looking for suspects. They're asking anyone with information..."

"I'm calling the cops." Matt said going for the phone.

"No. Don't." Vicki said, pulling him back to her.

"What happened after I left last night, Vick?" Jeremy asked her. She didn't answer just pushed him away from her and towards the couch forcing it forwards.

"Jer, are you ok ?" Matt asked him.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He said angrily.

"Damn, Vick." Matt said as Elena and Stefan walked in the house then towards the trio.

"What's going on?" Elena asked.

"She's really messed up." Matt said. Stefan looked at Vicki for a moment before noticing something in her eyes he hoped he hadn't seen.

"Elena, back up. Vicki, look at me. Focus." He looked deep into her eyes and found what he'd hoped he hadn't seen. "You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine. Guys, take her up to bed. Shut the blinds. She's gonna be ok. Come on. Come on." Matt and Jeremy do as he said and took Vicki upstairs to help her rest.

"You know what's wrong with her?" Elena asked him.

"Yeah." He answered.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"She's transitioning." Stefan explained.

"Transitioning to what?" Elena asked, afraid of the answer.

"A vampire." He told her.

"What?" she asked.

"Damon must have gotten to her. She's new. She hasn't completed her transformation yet." Stefan assured her.

"H-how does she do that?" Elena asked him.

"She has to feed on human blood." he said.

"And what if she doesn't?" Elena asked.

"She'll die. She may only have a few hours." Stefan told her.

"She's upstairs with him right now." She said, scared for her brother.

"It's ok. She doesn't know what's happening to her yet." He assured her.

"So when is she gonna know?" Elena asked him.

"Right now, she doesn't remember anything. A part of her is still human, but slowly, the deeper she gets into the transition, the memories will start to come back, and then she'll know she has to make the choice." Stefan explained.

"The same choice you made?" she asked him before something dawned on her. "Oh god, he still has Chloe. What if he kills her or forces her to turn?"

"I don't think he will." Stefan told her.

"Why's that?" she asked him worriedly.

"She's been with him since at least last night. If he was going to kill her or turn her he would have done so already." He explained and she nodded before pacing.

* * *

"I'm sorry I'm so much trouble." Vicki told Jeremy. She was sitting up in his bed with him sitting next to her.

"Aw, you just-you need to sleep it off, ok?" he told her. Matt watched them hug each other and walked away. As Vicki hugged him she was tempted to bite him and she was about to. When she realized what she was doing, she stopped.

"No." she said before getting up and running away grabbing her shoes in the process.

"Vick. Vicki!" Matt called after her.

"She was fine, and then she just- she just freaked out." Jeremy told them.

"I'm gonna go look for her. Call me if you hear anything." Matt said running away from the house to find his sister.

"I can track her." Stefan told Elena once they were alone.

"Go." She told him and he rushed after Vicki using his vampire speed.

* * *

In the woods, Logan was using the compass to try and find the vampire who killed the teens at the cemetery, when the compass started to freak out and turn where he needed to go. He picked up his cell and called Sheriff Forbes immediately.

"Yeah." She answered her phone.

"I think I got something. It's pointing towards the old cemetery." Logan told her.

"Headed your way." She told him as she and her deputies all went off in that direction.

* * *

"Maybe we should check in with Matt." Jeremy suggested as he and Elena cleaned up the kitchen.

"He'll call when he finds her." Elena told him for the umpteenth time. He'd suggested calling Matt a small number of times and everytime she said the same thing.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" he asked her.

"We wait. We're supposed to wait." She told him.

"I don't know what's wrong with her." Jeremy said feeling even more depressed.

"She'll be fine. It'll all be fine." She said, but the way she said it made it sound like she wanted to convince herself more than her worried brother. Her train of thought was broken when the doorbell rang and she opened the door to find Damon and me standing on the other side. She quickly tried to close the door on Damon but he pushed back to open it fully. "Jeremy, go upstairs." She told him.

"What's going on?" he asked looking between all of us.

"Jer just go upstairs. I'll explain later." I told him with a smile on my face and he went upstairs.

"You're afraid of me." Damon said to Elena once Jeremy was out of earshot. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess. Stefan finally fessed up."

"Stay away from my family." Elena told him.

"Hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan. May I come in? Oh, wait. Of course I can. I've been invited." Damon told her walking into the house as I followed him. "We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm not gonna kill you right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda. So... Where's Stefan?"

"He's out looking for Vicki." She told him with hatred lining every word.

"Don't look at me with those judgey little eyes. Girl's gonna thank me for what I did to her." Damon told her and I rolled my eyes.

"Did you thank Anna?" she asked him.

"Mmm. Got the whole life story, huh?" he asked her with a smirk.

"I got enough." She answered.

"Oh, I doubt that. Tell my brother I'm looking for him. Oh, tip for later, be careful who you invite in the house. Chloe, stay here." He told me and I knew the compulsion was broken and I sighed.

"Really?" I asked turning to Elena. "You know what they are and you still talk to him like that?" I asked her.

"You know?" she asked shocked.

"I put the pieces together a while ago." I said before going upstairs and looking out my window into the darkness.

* * *

At the cemetery, Vicki was crying in the place where she was supposed to have died with her friends the previous night.

"Vicki." She turned to see Stefan next to her.

"I'm starting to remember things, what he is, what he said. I remember you. The hospital, the-the rooftop, it's all coming back." She told him.

"I'm so sorry. Damon had no right to do this to you." He said kneeling next to her.

"He said that I need to feed. What will happen if I don't?" she asked him.

"You'll fade quickly... And then it'll all just be over." He explained

"I'll be dead." She cried.

"Hey." Stefan said, trying to comfort her.

"I don't want this." She told him.

"I know. It'll be ok. You're gonna be ok. I can help you." He told her.

"Is it better? Is it better? Will I be better?" she asked him but he didn't answer her. "I wanna go home. Will you take me home?"

"Ok." He stood and offered her a hand to help her up when gunshots went off. Stefan looked down and both he and Vicki saw blood pouring from him. Vicki turned to see Logan holding the smoking gun. He walked to Stefan and pointed the gun down at him before tossing it aside and preparing to stake him.

"No!" Vicki called out before Logan screamed in pain. Damon had appeared and was killing Logan. When he was done Logan dropped and Damon went to his brother's side taking the bullet from Stefan's chest.

"It's wood. They know. If anyone's gonna kill you, it's gonna be me. My ring." Damon demanded making a come hither motion. Stefan slowly pulled out Damon's ring and Damon snatched it before placing it on his finger. They both heard something and turned to see Vicki drinking Logan's blood.

"No! No! Vicki!" Stefan called to her.

"I'm sorry." She told him before she ran away.

"Oops." Damon said with a smirk. He saw the compass and grabbed it before he and his brother disappeared from the sight. It wasn't long after that Sheriff Forbes and her deputies came running up and found Logan's dead body.

"Oh god... The watch. Find the watch." She ordered and they spread out.

* * *

Elena and I sat on the front porch waiting for Stefan to come back either with Vicki or with news.

"What if she turned? What will we do?" Elena asked me.

"We do what we can to help and keep Jeremy away from her for as long as possible." I told her.

"That won't be easy." She reminded me.

"No, but it could save his life. She'd be like a newborn. She wouldn't be able to control her actions." I explained my thought process to her. Suddenly she stood and ran off the porch and I turned to see Stefan walking towards us.

"You're bleeding." She said looking down at his shirt.

"No, it's ok. It's ok. I'm ok." He told her.

"Well? Did you find her?" I asked him standing next to my sister and he nodded.

"I couldn't stop her. I tried." He told us and I looked down in realization what this meant.

"What does that mean?" Elena asked him.

"She fed, and then I lost her." Stefan told her.

"Oh, my god." Elena sighed.

"I'll take care of it. I'll find her, and I will show her that she can live like I do. I will make sure that she does not hurt anybody, Elena. I promise you." He told her.

"What do I tell my brother and- and Matt?" she asked him.

"We'll come up with a story." He told her.

"You mean we'll come up with a lie." She said.

"I'm so sorry." He told her.

"This is now out life, Elena. We have to protect their secret." I said and she gave me a curious look before I walked away from them.

"I gave you today just like you asked." Elena told Stefan. "And I understand that you would never do anything to hurt me, and I promise I will keep your secret, but... I can't be with you, Stefan. I'm sorry. I- I just can't..." she walked away from him into the house and closed the door quietly before she fell to the floor and cried as I watched her.


End file.
